


Crown of Thorns

by alwaysyouu



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Angst, Blow Jobs, Childhood Friends, Eventual Smut, Explicit Sexual Content, Fluff, Hand Jobs, Hockey Player Louis, M/M, Riding, Rimming, Smut, Top!Harry, Uni AU, bottom!Louis, lol they were like frenemies/best friends, takes place in New York but they grew up in London
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-01
Updated: 2016-09-30
Packaged: 2018-07-28 15:47:00
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 26,801
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7647121
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alwaysyouu/pseuds/alwaysyouu
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A rapid assault of early memories flooded both minds. Lucid sentiments overpowered their brains; granting the entrance of intimate senses that have once been incinerated, run free again. Sentiments that encompassed the sound of skates dashing across an ice rink, the ring of smoke that was elicited from burning plastic after liquefying a doll, the sharp smell of chlorine that lingered on sun kissed skin, the spooky atmosphere of Halloween night as candy was being traded on the living room floor, and the acute torment from stepping on one of many legos that cluttered the Star Wars bedroom rug.<br/>Senses that were thought to be erased, were instantly unlocked. Hearts surged with remembrance of prior shared memories that were deleted due to their rigorous significance. Everything from 11 years ago was right before their eyes; all they had to do was reach out and solve the abiding puzzle that had been left intact for all this time. </p><p>Or, a Uni!AU where two childhood best friends meet again after 11 years, leaving them to resolve unanswered feelings. Louis and Harry soon learn the true meaning of fate, and its mark that it discards to those who can't seem to figure it out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> hiii, this is my first Larry fic and I'm extremely elated about it. I just wanted to say a quick thank you to Krizia who motivated me to write this thing!! Sorry if some of the language is off; I'm American. I really don't know what to say other than I hope my writing is okay. Also, a lot of this is based off of my past experiences lol so in a way I guess it's nonfiction? I'm not really sure what category it falls under. Anyways, enjoy! xx
> 
> Tumblr:[x](http://larryfu-k.tumblr.com)  
> Twitter:[x](https://twitter.com/_alysnyder_)

As Harry sat on his knees, packing the last of his books into the box, he heard a shuffling by the door. He raised his head to see an exhausted Louis with his arms crossed against his chest, leaning against the door frame. His eyes displayed fatigue and distress, while his body language screamed pure agitation.

“So you’re really leaving,”

Louis said as a statement instead of as a question. “Well, if you haven’t noticed, we _have_ been packing for the past two weeks.” Harry chuckled as he looked up at Louis, who instead had focused his gaze on the empty corner on the other side of the bedroom.

“Right,” He muttered.

The air was tense and restive, almost as if Harry could physically feel Louis slipping away.

“Anyways, have a nice trip.”

Louis departed the doorway, leaving Harry’s mind flooded with confusion. Their poor discourse lasted less than 5 minutes, but in that scant time, Louis’ eyes never met Harry’s. He slowly rose on unsteady legs and dragged his sweaty palms down the front of his jeans. Louis refusing to say a proper goodbye was the absolute last thing he ever expected. Suddenly, the house became as voiceless as an empty park during the dead of night. The intense silence was soon broken with an emphatic slam of the front door that shook the entire house along with Harry’s heart.

The trembling felt almost real, as if someone was genuinely shaking him.

 

“Harry! C’mon! Get your bloody arse up!” Niall cried as he rattled his flatmate. A sharp wave emerged through Harry, causing him to jolt up in his chair with an essay plastered to his cheek. “Mate, I told you not to sleep at your desk anymore,” Niall pulled the paper from his face. “Not good for your back.”

Harry nodded and rubbed his eyes. “What time is it?” He yawned and rose from his chair to stretch his long limbs. “10 past 9. I'm going out to get drinks with Liam and his new girlfriend Tara,” Niall hopped on one leg as he attempted to tie his left shoe, “thought you’d be interested to come with.” Harry stretched his right arm over his head. “Nah, thanks though. I need to finish going over my essays for tomorrow’s class.”

Niall rolled his eyes and finished tying his other shoe. “You’ve reviewed those essays more than a thousand times. And it’s only the first day of a summer class! Those barely count.”

He ran to the mirror pasted on the door to quickly fix his blonde hair. Harry sighed and sat back down at his desk. “They definitely do count. Rain check, alright?” Niall cheerfully nodded before grabbing his keys, wallet, and a condom. “You never know, you know?” He assured with a cheeky wink. "Cheers!"

Harry laughed as his flatmate ran out the door. He placed a pen into his mouth and thoughtfully chewed, pondering deeply about the same nightmare that has haunted him for the past 11 years. It wasn’t even a dream anymore, more of a recurring reflection of the last time he saw his old childhood best friend. He leaned back in his chair and turned his head to the crowded book shelf, eyes landing on one photo in particular. The picture had taken place at Louis’ house; one of the indelible moments before Harry’s mum had announced their move from London to the United States. The two boys obtained toothy grins that took up both their faces, along with an array of orange, purple, and green frosting that littered across their cheeks. Louis, being an absolute menace, had smeared Harry first. He loved obtaining a reaction from Harry through his foolish acts. He remembered being completely irritated with Louis but quickly forgot about it when he wrapped his arms around Harry’s waist, fitting his head into Harry’s armpit for the photo. The eleven year old boys adored Halloween, so both mums thought it would be sweet for them to decorate Halloween themed cookies in the summer before the fifth grade.

Also known as the summer of unadulterated anguish for both the boys.

 

...

 

Louis sprinted across his temporary dorm room, searching desperately for his other sock, as his toothbrush hung from his mouth. He was going to be late for his first day of class and he lived on campus.

_Pathetic, Tomlinson_ , he thought to himself.

After what felt like a century, he found his damn sock, finished cleaning his teeth, and checked his hair in the mirror before slipping on his checkered vans.

“Should probably grab my book bag.” He grumbled to himself before throwing it over his shoulder and racing out the door. There was no doubt that he looked like a complete idiot to all the students on campus as he dashed past everyone. Because he couldn’t remember the building name, he ducked his head down into his bag for the paper as he quickly walked past unfamiliar faces. His fingertips grazed the paper but his train of thought was interrupted when someone rudely bumped into him.

“Excuse you-“ he began but the stranger kept walking before him. Louis stopped to glare at the tall boy with the brown, faint curls. An odd, foreign tug jerked in his chest as he starred at the boy who was now practically out of his sight. He ignored the strange feeling and was about to continue his walk but his phone began to ring. He groaned and reached into his pocket.

“Yeah, hello?”

“Louis! Hi! How are you, babe?”

“Uh, yeah, I’m fine,” his hand dipped back down into his book bag for the same paper with his directions. “Just trying to get to my first class.” He pulled out the paper and saw that he needed the East building which wasn’t at all far from him.

“That’s great! I miss you already. Maybe we can Skype later or something?” Anastasia said cheerfully into the phone. Louis reached the building and rapidly made his way inside and to his classroom. “Yeah, sure babe. I have to go now, I just got to class.”

“Okay, I love you.”

“Love you too.”

He hung up on his girlfriend and silenced his phone before shoving it into his bag. He walked into the classroom and it was fairly small for a college class. The professor wasn’t even in yet, allowing Louis to exhale a breath of relief. He made his way to the fourth row and took out his laptop and the four argumentative essays they were supposed to complete. Just as he set everything in front of him, the professor strolled in.

“Good morning to you all! My name is Professor Holguin. Welcome to Philosophy 500 where you will need to ponder the most basic questions about human life and its place in the universe. Let’s get started.”

Class blew by faster than Louis had expected. He began to put away his laptop back into his bag when a certain brown haired boy caught his eye. The same tall boy was standing up in the second row as he put away his laptop and textbook. Louis strained his neck to see his face but only captured a meager glimpse of a dimple that indented his cheek as he spoke briefly to a girl next to him. The same outlandish feeling entered his body, but this time it was accompanied by familiarity. Mystery boy raised his hood over his head and ducked out of the classroom, leaving Louis with curious thoughts.

 

...

 

“Hey,” Niall entered the room and kicked off his running shoes, “how was the first day of philosophy?”

For some odd reason, he carried a hockey stick in his hand that he placed right next to the door along with a black sports bag. “Uh…” Harry eyed the supplies by the door quizzically, “it was alright. Why do you have a hockey stick?”

Niall walked to the fridge to grab a bottle of water and then joined Harry on the couch. “Well, yesterday when I went out with Liam and Tara, they introduced me to this super cool guy who plays hockey,” he took a pause to gulp down half his water, “and I was out with him right now playing! Isn’t that so cool, Haz? Like you barely hear of hockey players anymore.”

Harry’s eyebrows furrowed slightly. “Yeah, that is cool! And you guys just played right now?"

“Yeah, he taught me some cool tricks,” he tilted his head towards the door, “even lent me a stick! This guy is awesome, I really think you guys would hit it off,” he took another halt to finish his water. “And, he’s coming out with us tonight to Cam's party! So get ready; leaving in 20 minutes!”

Niall leaped off the couch and made his way to his bedroom.

“Wait, who is this guy?” Harry yelled as he rose from his seat.

“His name is L-“

Before Niall could finish his sentence, three incredibly loud bodies came crashing through the door, all bellowing with laughter.

“Harry, why are you not dressed? I refuse to be seen with anyone wearing snowman patterned fuzzy shorts.” Lila said with a giggle escaping her lips. Harry pouted dramatically. “You mean you don’t like my favorite outfit? These shorts are my number one dick magnet.”

“Well, they do make your legs look outstanding,” Liam snickered and pushed Harry towards the hallway.

He smiled wide and hurried into his bedroom to change. He threw on a pair of black jeans, a sheer, black t-shirt, and his iconic brown boots that, surprisingly, have become rather fashionable on campus since Harry’s arrival. He didn’t like to admit it, but he was quite the trendsetter due to his unique sense of faddism. Not to mention, he was one of the most kind hearted people who attended NYU so it was no surprise to all that he created a clamor of couture.

He ruffled his mane of hair before meeting everyone back in the living room where he gave Tara, Liam, and Lila proper hugs.

“Sorry, meant to do that earlier but I was rudely forced into my room after I was told my attire was shit.” Harry joked as he opened the door for them to leave.

“Your words, not mine.” Lila sang as Niall wrapped an arm around her waist and guided her out the door.

Niall and Lila were not technically dating but their blatant flirting made it obvious that they were both interested in one another.

The party was close to the flat so they didn’t bother driving. One of Niall’s closest friends lived in the frat house that was infamous for its ardent ragers.

“Niall! So happy you guys came!” Cam yelled over the blaring music. He pushed through people to give Niall a hug. “I mean you did say free pints so I didn’t really have to think twice,” Niall said with a wink. Cam laughed and made his way to hug Harry. “You know,” Cam started near Harry’s ear, “there are so many hot ass guys in here so take advantage of it mate!” Harry snorted and patted him on his shoulder. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

Cam smiled and led Liam and Tara towards the kitchen. The party was in full motion as they arrived. The house shook with deafening capability music; people played beer pong on one side, flip cup on the other, and a huge dance floor filled with sweaty figures as they ground into one another. Harry scanned the crowd and recognized a cute boy named Finn who always showed Harry a large amount of interest. Finn's back was pressed against another guy’s front as they danced sloppily. The boy’s eyes landed on Harry and continued to grind harder and sloppier to see if Harry would react. He shrugged and followed Niall to the kitchen where they would get drinks, but stopped when Niall smiled and leaned into Harry.

“There’s my new friend! I can’t wait for you guys to meet.”

They approached the brown haired boy who had his back to them as he spoke noisily to Liam and Tara. His rambunctious voice definitely did not fit his body; for he was fairly small. Harry’s eyes dragged down his petite waist where they landed on the curve of his back that led to his superb arse.

“Louis! This is the Harry who I was telling you about!" Niall wailed over the booming music. The boy turned to face them and suddenly, Harry felt his hands turn into an actual sauna. Louis’ crinkly eyes swelled into bewilderment while his smile faded into a slim line. The two boys starred at each other for a moment before they realized everyone was waiting for them to shake hands and say hello.

_Louis._

A rapid assault of early memories flooded both minds. Lucid sentiments overpowered their brains; granting the entrance of intimate senses that have once been incinerated, run free again. Sentiments that encompassed the sound of skates dashing across an ice rink, the ring of smoke that was elicited from burning plastic after liquefying a doll, the sharp smell of chlorine that lingered on sun kissed skin, the spooky atmosphere of Halloween night as candy was being traded on the living room floor, and the acute torment from stepping on one of many legos that cluttered the Star Wars bedroom rug.

Senses that were thought to be erased, were instantly unlocked. Hearts surged with remembrance of prior shared memories that were deleted due to their rigorous significance. Everything from 11 years ago was right before their eyes; all they had to do was reach out and solve the abiding puzzle that had been left intact for all this time.

“Right,” Louis exclaimed with a friendly smile. That one minuscule word that should have an empty meaning hit Harry with a flash of sentimentality, except this time, Louis said the word with warmth instead of apathy.

“Harry! I’ve heard so much about you. I feel as if we already know each other.” His wild eyes met Harry’s as he stuck out his hand for Harry to shake. Harry took it and luckily, Louis’ hand was clammy as well, both hands creating a slip-n-slide together. “It’s great to meet you!” Harry beamed, “And yeah, I feel like we practically know each other too.” Harry flashed a small smile and Louis’ face went unreadable. The room abruptly felt much smaller and much quieter. Harry quickly excused himself before escaping to the serene back yard. A couple of people sat outside but everyone mainly remained inside the house.

His head continued to spin and his legs began to feel unsteady. He led himself to a concrete bench that sat in front of a bush of jasmine flowers. He remembered a conversation with Tara where he was helping her study for an exam on flowers and their symbolic meanings. The jasmine flower represents love. He starred at the bush thoughtfully before sitting down.

_That had to be my Louis_ , Harry thought to himself.

He shook his head. Not _his_ Louis, it was just Louis. Thoughts sprinted through his mind as he ducked his head and ran his fingers through his hair. A figure appeared in front of him causing Harry to lift his head to meet soft blue eyes. For a moment, neither of them said anything with their mouths; instead allowing their eyes to do all the communicating. Both boys had clearly changed but Louis’ gracious eyes had remained untouched. Louis was the first to break the silence.

“May I sit?”

Harry nodded his head and Louis sat next to him. Reticence again filled the air between them. Usually, the absence of sound causes an uncomfortable atmosphere but theirs was familiar and almost sedated.

“Why did you pretend that we didn’t know each other?” Harry softly asked.

“I panicked.”

“Me too.”

“And I wanted to make sure it was you.” Louis gave a small grin that brought Harry to do the same. Louis slightly turned his body to face Harry.

“Now that I know it’s for sure you,” compression touched his voice as if he were telling a secret, “how are you?”

A sudden laugh shook Harry, leaving Louis with a perplexed expression.

“How am I? That sounds so weird leaving your mouth," Harry hummed dearly, "I’m so used to you saying something crude or vulgar.”

Louis lightly laughed and nodded his head. “I mean, as you already know quiet well, I was extremely vulgar when I was a kid,” Louis turned his body to fully face Harry, “but I’m not as deranged as I once was when you knew me.”

Harry squinted his eyes and smiled playfully. “Just feels weird when I hear those words come out of your mouth.”

Louis tucked his left foot underneath his bum.

"So, would you rather me talk about something else?" Louis asked and Harry nodded.

“Remember when you choked me in the lunch line?”

A loud roar escaped Harry’s mouth as he turned to be directly in front of Louis on the bench.

“Okay, in my defense, you were being incredibly barbaric that day. Honestly, you’re lucky my hands were only on your throat for at least 5 seconds.”

Louis' arms flung dramatically in the air. “10 seconds! It was 10 seconds!” cried Louis with a bright smile covering his face.

“Alright, whatever, _maybe_ it was 10 seconds.” Harry playfully rolled his eyes. He attempted to have a straight face but was unable to when a smile was plastered upon his lips.

“I understand why you did it though,” Louis began, “I was such a shit to you.”

For a moment, Louis seemed to hold a sad expression, looking like an apologetic puppy who just tore apart your favorite shoes.

“You’re sorry?” Harry questioned skeptically. Louis was never the kind to apologize. The only times an actual apology was uttered from his mouth was when he took a joke too far, causing Harry to ignore him for weeks. But those situations were considerably limited because Louis’ goal was always to mess with him, but never to intentionally harm Harry.

“Well, yeah,” it was evident that Louis felt sorry for his past actions, due to his embarrassed tone of voice, “Yes, we were inseparable because we were always together, but I feel like I played with you too much even though you were my best friend.”

Hearing these words felt unnatural. Louis was always known as the menace who started fights in elementary school, and dunked Harry’s head in the pool until he was punching for air. It sounds atrocious but that’s just the kind of kid Louis was.

“I always thought we were more of a frenemies type of thing.”

Louis smiled. He always had such a lovely smile. Harry remembers one night when Louis first complained about his smile, claiming his teeth were ugly. However, Harry always fought for his exquisite grin, and declared that it reminded him of a summer day. He remembers how Louis fought a pink blush from covering his cheeks, and how he fought a smile from being sewed onto his lips. “Don’t be stupid, Harry,” Louis quickly said as he turned away from Harry, “friends don’t say things like that.” Harry remembers the pain that lingered in his voice, and how fast he was to turn the attention to the movie playing in the living room.

"I always thought you secretly hated me. Or loved me. They’re both so similar,” admitted Louis.

“I think at one point I tried to hate you but that was impossible.”

Louis clenched his fist and placed it under his chin, giving a toothy grin. “Because I’m just so great, right?”

“No, I think it was because I was forced to see you almost everyday,” Harry bantered, “But, really? I find it hard to believe that you aren’t a complete shit anymore.”

Louis’ sat up straight and fervently nodded his head. The virtuous expression upon his face was so delightful, Harry couldn’t help but grin. "I swear! Honest!” he exclaimed, but soon slumped back down again with a slight pout, “Well, I do have to admit that I’m sometimes a shit. I feel like it’s just something that is innately attached to me,” he retorted sadly, defeat tinting his face.

Harry immediately reached for his hand, grazing it delicately. “Louis, it’s okay. I’m not mad or anything. In fact, I’m really happy that you didn’t change everything about you because your insanity was your exclusive trait,” he told Louis profoundly, "Embrace your fucking insanity."

Louis was taken by surprise but at the same time, was extremely relieved.

“No one has ever told me that,” he began, “not even my girlfriend. She actually hates when I joke with her,” his eyes dropped wistfully to the foot that was tucked underneath his body.

Harry raised his eyebrows. He didn't know Louis had a girlfriend, or a girlfriend that didn't appreciate Louis’ profound sense of humor. For some strange reason, his stomach slightly churned at the new piece of information. He ignored the uncomfortable sensation that lingered in his tummy.

"You have a girlfriend?"

Louis raised his head slightly. "Uh, yeah. Her name is Anastasia."

"How long have you guys been together?"

"2 years, almost 3 actually," Louis ruffled his hair shifted his body on his leg.

After Harry shifted his major from medicine to criminal law, he learned how to read people based on their body language. Louis’ body squealed oppression and difficulty. It was somewhat overt that Louis felt uncomfortable talking about her in front of him.

Harry forcefully plastered a smile to his face. "Wow, that's great! Really great. I'm so happy for you."

Louis looked at Harry and smiled.

Harry couldn't figure out the reason why he didn't genuinely feel happiness for Louis. You're supposed to feel elated for your friends, especially when they're in a serious relationship.

Louis explained to Harry that he met Anastasia sophomore year of college through mutual friends. She's an art major who plans to do murals in the city of Los Angeles; while Louis is majoring in biology. Louis spoke very highly of his girlfriend, but at the same time, it seemed as if he could not wait to stop talking about her.

"She sounds amazing," spoke Harry. Louis nodded stiffly and changed the subject in a heartbeat.

"So Harold," he began with a mischievous grin, "any special people in your life?"

His cheeks reddened bashfully. "No, not exactly," he laughed, "I just do whatever, I guess."

Harry wasn't sure if Louis knew his sexual orientation. He was fully out as gay but for some reason, he didn't feel the need to announce it to Louis just yet.

The two boys spent an hour talking, laughing, and reminiscing their past stories from when they were kids. Sometimes, catching up with old flames can lead to bumbling conversations that are awkward and uncoordinated. But with Louis and Harry, it felt as if the past 11 years with no contact never happened. A dull moment was nonexistent with them; only sparkles and smiles.

"Remember those assholes you were friends with? Those twins?" questioned Louis.

"They weren't assholes! You’re just mad that they thought you were obnoxious.”

Louis threw his hand over his heart in a theatrical manner. “How dare you claim that I was obnoxious! I prefer the word demonstrative.”

“Emphasis on the ‘demon’ portion,” giggled Harry.

"To be quite honest, I always thought you liked them more than me," admitted Louis, "That's why I never liked them."

This confession made an abundance of sense to Harry. Louis was always pulling some of the worst pranks on the twins. One of the pranks being that he set off a firecracker meters from the pair. He claimed that his hand slipped, but Harry could see the evident dissatisfaction in his face when his aim was off. 

"I always liked you more," hummed Harry.

"They were both in love with you too," Louis continued as if Harry hadn't said anything, "if you didn't know. It was so obvious."

Harry couldn't tell if it was jealousy that loitered his voice or drowsiness; but it was definitely something.

"Is that why you hated them? Because they were in love with me?" asked Harry buoyantly. Louis played along and answered in the same tone.

"Well duh Harold. I couldn't have two girls come and steal away the love of my life.

Harry laughed; it seemed as if he was always laughing with Louis. No matter what the situation was, Louis could always make Harry laugh. 

Growing up, playful banter was common between the two. Both boys always throwing incredibly sarcastic ridicule, allowing them to nip at each other. And it was evident that they never lost the marvelous compatibility.

“Oh!” Harry exclaimed suddenly, causing Louis to jump a bit, “I almost forgot to ask you the blazingly obvious question; What are you doing here in New York?”

“Well, I actually live here in the state of New York, but not here in New York City,” explained Louis, “I go to Rochester University, which is like 5 hours away,” he scrunched his nose in the same way he used to when he was 11 years old, striking Harry with a lash of nostalgia, “but I’m here in New York City because I’m taking a summer class over at NYU.”

Harry’s eyebrows furrowed as he thought about Louis’ answer. How did he not know Louis was living in this state? Or even in this country?

“When did you move here?”

“My freshman year of uni. I only came to the states because I got full scholarship to my school,” smiled Louis. Harry felt a pang of satisfaction for his friend. When they were younger, Louis never utilized his potential, always wasting his time in school by disputing with children.

“Lou, I’m so proud of you,” Louis’ cheeks reddened as he smiled, “Honestly, wow, a full ride is so impressive! Especially because you’re not even from the United States.”

His delight for Louis was so emphatic, it was impossible to hide it.

“Oh stop,” Louis laughed, “It’s not that profound. Lots of people get full rides.”

“It’s incredibly impressive and I’m so happy for you.”

Louis couldn’t stop his smile from spreading across his face before sitting up straight. “What about you? You were always so serious about school even in elementary school,” he chuckled, “It was cute.”

“Cute? You always harassed me for that!” yelled Harry with a large grin.

“I know, but it was still super adorable.”

The two could not stop the smiles that were practically stitched to their faces. It was as if someone had drugged them with a cracked out version of Valium that makes you feel nothing but warmth and fondness. Louis hadn’t felt this happy since he saw his family last Christmas.

“I actually go to NYU. And, I’m taking a summer class too,” Harry finally replied.

“What class?”

“Philosophy 500 with Professor Holguin.”

Louis’ eyes widened and he tilted his head as he hummed. “I’m actually taking that class too,” he almost whispered, leading Harry to widen his eyes as well. The image of the boy with brown curls that had bumped into him earlier that day suddenly evaded his mind.

The familiar tug in his stomach finally made sense, and Louis could not believe his luck.

“Wait, really?”

Louis slowly nodded his head. “Wow, then we must be in the same class because he only has one class this summer.”

The situation felt surreal. What were the obscure chances of them being in the same class? And knocking into each other without knowing earlier? It was especially bizarre because not many students take the class due to its extreme difficulty.

Louis laughed breathily. “This is so weird. Who would have thought that we would meet again? And now be in the same summer class?” he shook his head, bewilderment tinging on his face, “It’s just mad.”

His head lifted to look at Harry who was already starring at him.

“Strangely mad.” Harry breathed with a tiny smile.

They had failed to observe the fact that each time they smiled, their faces would shift a tad bit closer, allowing their heads to be so close, Louis could smell Harry’s mint gum.

“There you two are!”

A loud voice boomed, provoking the lads to jump back a respectable distance, hearts threatening to jump out of their chests.

Niall quickly stumbled out of the house with two red solo cups in his hands as Lila sprinted out after him.

“Niall! For fucks sake, you can’t take cups from the beer pong table!” she yelled before grabbing the cups from his hands. He held a gooey expression on his face as Lila held him up from falling. Her eyes scanned skeptically between the pair. But she smiled at their matching crimson cheeks.

“I’m sorry to interrupt,” she said, voice hinting at lighthearted torment, “But, Harry, can we go please?” pleaded Lila, “He’s hammered and really needs to be put to bed.”

Harry chuckled deeply and stood up. He stretched his arms and legs, bending down slightly in front of his previous spot. Louis’ eyes automatically dragged up to Harry’s toned back and watched the muscles move as he stretched his arms above his head. His heart raced again as his gaze crawled down to his lower back, and then to his perky butt, which oddly enough, reminded Louis of a peach. Peaches are small and dainty, but they are also pliable and juicy, which he imagined his arse would feel like.

_Wait, what the fuck?_ He thought to himself.

_Stop fucking thinking about Harry’s ass. And how it fucking tastes and feels._

_Oh god._

Louis hadn’t realized that he had been overtly daydreaming with his eyes glued onto Harry’s body. He gently leaped forward and stood up next to Harry, quickly noticing their discernible height difference. He watched as Harry stood to Niall’s left in order to help Lila steady his comatose body.

“Sorry Lou,” Harry croaked, wrapping his arm around Niall, “if we don’t get him home now, he will probably wake up naked in Times Square.”

A shiver ran through Louis' body as he heard Harry use his nickname. Louis and Lila laughed.

“It’s true though,” started Lila, “Like when I first met him, he ran off alone when he was already wasted and this idiot woke up in the Whole Foods parking lot with a clan of homeless men.”

Harry and Louis boomed with laughter, causing Harry to almost lose his balance, and come close to dropping Niall.

“Harry!” Lila roared with a strong laugh.

“Do you guys need help with him?” Louis asked anxiously, watching as Niall tried to kiss Harry’s nose.

“I think we’re alright, thank you. Are you going to be okay? Do you want me to call you a cab?” asked Harry fretfully, itching his face away from Niall, and allowing glowing eyes to meet Louis'. Inside his head, Louis was mentally screaming because only Harry would ask if he needed a cab to be called.

Sweet, sweet Harry whom he missed so much.

"No, it's quite alright. I'll go home with my roommate once I find him," he smiled. Harry mirrored the warm action and nodded.

“It was so amazing seeing you again though, Lou.”

“You too Harry. Bye Lila!"

"Bye Louis!"

Lila and Harry carried Niall out of the perimeter, leaving Louis with an erratically thrashing heart, and extremely mixed emotions that began to resurrect once again.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry it took a while for me to update!! I hope you all enjoy this chapter :)) xx
> 
> Tumblr:[x](http://larryfu-k.tumblr.com)  
> Twitter:[x](https://twitter.com/_alysnyder_)

The crisp morning breeze after a party had to be one of Harry’s favorite feelings. He was in love with the peaceful atmosphere that lingered freely due to the amount of people snoozing. It wasn’t quite as early as he usually woke up after a night of taking care of Niall but yet, a trace of stillness drifted in the light wind that puffed through the air. 

In order to make Niall’s headache a bit more endurable, Harry always treated him to a hot cup of tea, which Niall only tolerated after a night of ruthless drinking.

After placing the kettle on the stove with water that was set to boil, he reached in the cupboard for two mugs and his everyday green tea. A small grey box sat in place of his daily tea, causing Harry to look at the kit curiously. He soon remembered Niall expressing torment when Lila dragged him to a farmers' market the morning before the party, where he bought Harry a new pack of tea that Harry had never tried before. 

“Why the fuck do farmers' markets only sell healthy shit? There wasn’t even organic pints or anything!” he wailed before handing Harry the small box.

The petite packaging was quite cute; white jasmine flowers peppered around the grey carton and over the black letters that read

“Jasmine tea so strong, it’ll make you fall in love.”

_Huh_ , the thought formed in his mind.

_What’s up with all these jasmine, love allusions?_

He shrugged and carried on with making tea.

“I think I died last night,” grumbled Niall as he lazily walked into the kitchen, “I feel like someone used a hammer to hit me upside my head, and now I’m dead."

Harry handed him a hot cup of tea. “You may be dead; but at least you have your hangover tea now.”

Niall raised his cup in a means of a toast before sipping the hot liquid. “Oh wow,” he groaned, mouth dropping open, “What tea is this? I think it’s the best tea that I’ve ever had. It’s honestly causing me to consider drinking tea every day.”

Harry smiled and sat down at the table with him. “It’s the tea you bought me, actually.”

“Well I’ll be damned. Maybe that hippy place wasn’t so bad after all,” Niall conveyed, despite Harry being a zealous shopper at the market. Before he could retaliate, there was a loud knock at the door. He raised from the table and opened the door, revealing a cheerful Lila.

“Hello! I come bearing gifts.”

In one hand, she held a white bag with grease stains, and a coffee cup in the other. She handed the bag to Harry as she strolled inside. “I didn’t get you guys coffee or tea just because  _you_ ,” she turned and pointed at Harry, “are so fucking picky when it comes to your tea so I didn’t even bother,” she hummed, “But  _you_ ,” she pointed at Niall, who’s face completely lit up. If he looked like a dead man before, he now looked like a dead man who made it to Heaven, “you make my life so easy because you prefer beer over anything. Thank god Starbucks doesn’t sell beer or else we would all be fucked.”

Harry pulled the cheese filled croissants out of the bag and the three of them ate, laughing over Niall’s horrid state the night before.

“You were trying to lick my face,” giggled Harry, sipping his delicious tea. Niall rolled his eyes and stuffed the last of his bread into his mouth.

“Whatever, I’m going to go shower because the water doesn’t roast me like you assholes do,” he stood up from the table and trudged to his room, a smile plastered to his face despite his amusing spiel.

Lila watched him leave and then turned her head to Harry, scanning him carefully. Harry squirmed uncomfortably in his seat and let out a small chuckle.

“What?”

Lila shrugged, a mischievous grin on her face. “Oh nothing,” she picked at her croissant with hooded eyes, “Just thinking about how you and Louis looked very cozy last night,” Harry attempted to keep a straight face but Lila was able to read him like her favorite book, “ _Very_  comfortable. As if you two already knew each other.”

The room suddenly felt very warm. The sweet breeze disappeared and beads of sweat began to form on his palm. She took his silence as an opportunity to continue speaking. 

“You’re not the only person who can read people, Harold.”

He sighed. “How did you know?”

She folded her hands on the table, trying to exude an ambience of conundrum. “I like stalking my friends, especially new friends. I was lurking on Louis’ Facebook and his mom posted the same picture that you have in your living room,” she pointed towards the photo. Harry turned his head to look at the cookie frosting photo in the den. He smiled and shook his head. 

“And here I thought you were just an amazing profiler or something.”

“Maybe I am, but for now I think I should stick to ballet,” Lila beamed as she shrugged her shoulders and folded her hands again. “So you and Louis. What’s the story?”

He shifted repeatedly in his seat, lightly tousling his hair. “Uh, well we were best friends growing up.”

“Woah, really?"

Harry nodded his head. “Yeah, we were. He was a huge pain but he was still my best mate,” 

A smile appeared on Harry’s face as he thought about their past relationship. 

“But I left the country and it fucked up our relationship pretty badly. We never spoke after that,” his bright smile was replaced with an astringent grimace. 

Lila imitated his sour expression. “What? That’s it?” she blurted. Lila was never the type to be subdued, “You guys love each other growing up but then just cut all contact?”

Harry remained silent and let out a troubled sigh. 

“Our last exchange wasn’t exactly the best. I left and ruined a perfect thing.”

“But you were forced to leave.”

“I still left though.”

Harry realized that he never explained this to anyone before. He spent so much time and energy expunging Louis from his memory that he never got the chance to tell anyone about their last real encounter.

“The whole thing tore me apart, to be honest,” muttered Harry, “I’m not sure how it affected him but he was always so tough. I doubt it influenced him at all.”

“Well he seemed to be very captivated with you last night,” Her words caused Harry to scoff. 

Technically, their last encounter was not in Harry’s bedroom; it was at Louis’ family’s Halloween party the following year. 

Harry remembered that night almost _too_  lucidly. Their front yard was replete with painted faces, spooky silhouettes, and ominous screams that lingered from inside the homemade haunted house. They always took pride in having the spookiest haunted maze on the block, every year the house gaining a new eerie theme. Louis loved dressing to the appointed theme; so that year he dressed as The Jigsaw Killer from  _Saw_  due to the chilling theme of a human slaughterhouse. 

When Harry's family arrived to the party, Louis was the first to be seen, as he was riding on Jigsaw’s infamous tricycle, but the tricycle suddenly came to a halt when he watched Harry step out of the car. From the corner of Harry’s eye, he could see Louis’ startled expression that was daubed onto his already painted face. But when Harry turned to fully look at Louis, he was back to pedaling around, scaring children who happened to stroll by. 

Feeling disregarded, Harry left to go trick or treating with some old friends after saying hello to Louis’ parents, and when he returned hours later, Louis had sealed himself in his bedroom. He claimed to have a tummy ache; but Harry could have sworn that he witnessed Louis sprint inside when Harry walked up the street.

Harry’s mum declared it was time to leave, considering their early flight back to New York the next morning. Harry strolled into the house, a sweet, familiar smell flooding his nose as he inhaled deeply and shuffled down the hallway to Louis’ bedroom.

“Louis?” He lightly rapped on the door as he spoke lowly. “Louis, it’s me, Harry.”

No response.

“I-I just wanted to let you know th-that I’m leaving,” his voice cracked and stuttered, feeling as if he were an actual body that was being butchered in the maze outside.

“Oh, okay,” a soft voice spoke, “B-bye. Sorry, I don’t feel too good at the moment.”

Harry’s head fell against the door soundlessly as his eyes shut. 

Before, the two boys shared humorous inside jokes. Now, it seemed as if all they shared were shitty goodbyes.

Sometimes, when Harry thinks back to this moment, he swears he heard a shaky sob on the other side of the door. But the futile delusion is always pressed to the top of the memories that are categorized under unrealistic. He decided to keep this story to himself. 

 

…

 

“The conceptions of mortality and religion play a close role…” Harry muttered to himself as he silently typed his philosophy homework on his laptop. The coffee shop’s Sunday buzz had begun to die down, leaving a subdued atmosphere. Only a few people sat and did work while others chatted quietly as they sipped cappuccinos and lattes. 

Harry’s eyebrows rumpled in stupor as he tried to think about what to write next. A ding rang at the door, an indication that the shop gained another customer, but Harry didn’t bother looking up. 

“You wouldn’t mind a little company,” a voice conveyed in front of Harry’s table, “would you?" 

Louis stood directly in front of the sun that streamed through the glass window, allowing the sunlight to cast a ray of luminescence around his head. The amount of light that was emitted from Louis was preposterous. It made Harry want to take a class on religion to learn about the angels on earth.

“No, of course not,” smiled Harry. Louis placed his cup of tea on the table along with his laptop. 

“I’m glad you said so, I was worried I would have to make a scene.”

He stripped off his red with white stripes Adidas jacket, revealing his white tank top that fit him a tad bit too big. 

“While you’re here,” started the boy with green eyes, “maybe we can help each other out with this awful paper.”

Louis adjusted his shirt and opened his computer. “Oh god, yes please. I don’t even know where to start.”

 

…

 

The next hour included the two boys helping each other with theses and lecture facts. They would have gotten further except every time one of their mouths opened, another mouth would say something ridiculous which would cause a fit of giggles. 

“Harold! If you keep making me laugh, I’ll fail this class,” howled Louis, attempting to keep his voice down, “And if I fail because of you, don’t even think I won’t take you down with me.” Annoyed glares shot their way, along with a few shushes.

“Okay! Sorry. This is our last paragraph so let’s just try to finish this.”

Louis nodded and started typing his first sentence of his conclusion paragraph. His eyes struggled to stay on his bright screen, but they kept shifting to the charming lad in front of him.

“Alright,” declared Louis once he finished the last word and turned in the paper, “I’m all done.”

Harry continued his pious typing. “Okay, I’m almost finished.”

Louis’ palm came up to his cheek, allowing his elbow to carry the weight of his head in his hand. He watched Harry’s fixated eyes move side to side as he worked adamantly on the essay. There was something about the concentrated way in which his eyes waned studiously as they reviewed the assignment. The look on Harry’s face made Louis never want to glance away.

The sharp typing ceased, and bright green eyes met Louis’ pensive stare.

“What?” questioned Harry timidly, cheeks beginning to deluge the color crimson. Louis gave an astral smirk, closing his laptop and placing it into his bag. 

“Nothing.”

Harry’s eyes lingered on Louis’ serene face before doing the same with his computer. The two left the coffee shop and they could’ve sworn they heard sighs of relief from everyone inside. The new cotton candy sky shifted the original humid air into a subtle, light wind.

“Shit, how long were we working for?” asked Louis as he pulled his arms through his jacket.

“Way too long,” Harry said with a light smirk, pulling out his phone to check the time, “It’s almost 7.”

Louis nodded and moved his bag on his shoulder. A jittery wave fluttered through Harry's stomach, and before he knew it, he was asking Louis if he wanted to go eat. The question took Louis by surprise but he agreed.

“I know this really good pizza place? I remember how much you loved pizza,” Harry mildly rubbed the inside of Louis’ wrist, guiding him in the direction of the restaurant. 

The trip to the restaurant was a brisk walk. Small words were thrown here and there, but the air was filled with an essentially soothing stillness. The silence was interrupted when Louis reached to open the door, not seeing Harry standing to his side, and accidentally knocking him onto his ass from the blow of his elbow. 

“Oh shit!” Louis wailed, dropping to the floor next to Harry. Even though the breath had been taken from Harry’s chest from the punch, he still maintained a small smile towards Louis who stared at him with an apprehensive look. “Harry, are you alright?”

He managed to sit up slightly, Louis itching his arms out to help him.

“Yeah, I’m okay. Don’t worry.”

Louis let out a shaky breath and helped Harry to his feet. “If you weren’t so bloody tall, I wouldn’t have even punched you in the chest.”

“Are you really blaming this on me?” 

Louis gave a wry smile and wrapped an arm around Harry’s waist, maneuvering him into the pizza place.

The place was quaint. It seemed to be more of a pizza diner than a sports bar like most pizza places were in New York City. The two sat in a booth near the door as their waitress gave them menus. 

“Hello!” she declared in a saccharine tone, “I’m Zoe and I’ll be taking care of  _you_ ,” her eyes fell on Harry with a flirty smile, “guys today. Can I take your drink orders?”

The girl was very pretty. Blonde hair gathered in a high pony tail, large, green eyes, and long legs that accentuated her palatial height. Any guy would be on his knees for this girl. Louis and Harry gave each other surprised looks before Harry’s eyes dropped down to his menu.

“Water for me, thanks,” Louis gave a sardonic smile. 

“Same for me, thank you.”

Zoe waited for Harry to look up at her and flirt back like all the guys did, but his eyes continued reading the same word over and over again. When she left, Louis couldn't help but release a small laugh.

“Call me mad but it seems like that girl really took interest into you.”

Harry finally looked up from the menu, shaking his head. “Uh, she really wasn’t my type to be honest.”

Louis tilted his head. “And what is your type?" 

Harry contemplated his answer carefully before answering. “I like brown hair…and blue eyes,” Harry’s gaze never left Louis’ face, “preferably smaller than me. And funny, really funny. And cheeky.”

Silence was the only thing that came from Louis’ mouth as he examined the coy expression that presented itself on Harry’s face. Maybe it was a coincidence that Harry practically described the boy in front of him.

But Louis didn’t believe in coincidences.

Before either could muster up the courage to speak, the waitress came back with their waters, ready to take their orders.

“Two cheese pizzas please, and one with lots of pineapple and sausage,” Harry said before Louis could say his order. Zoe gave a curt smirk and gathered both menus before leaving to place their orders.

“Wow,” a rickety breath left Louis’ mouth, “you remembered my pizza order?”

Taking a sip of his water, Harry grinned. “I mean we did have pizza together almost every Friday at that bowling alley.”

Louis’ face lit up at the mention of that bowling alley. He loved when Harry brought up past moments, it made the ones he tried to kill just resurrect with no trouble.

“God I loved that place. I’m so happy our moms were in a league together,” he sipped the water in front of him, “And the pizza wasn’t even the best part! I was with you the whole time.”

An amused scoff was issued from Harry. “You do talk some shit, Lou,” an unruly chill ran through Louis’ body whenever Harry used his nickname, “The bowling alley is where you tormented me the most!”

“I did n-"

“Louis don’t even try to deny it. Remember when you locked the babysitting lady out of the room so you could wrap me in tape?”

A loud laugh bellowed from Louis, causing him to fling his small hand over his mouth. “Oh god, Haz, I’m so sorry. I don’t know what was the matter with me.”

“I do! You were crazy!”

They both laughed this time. Their laughter rang together beautifully like wedding chimes. “Remember the time that snotty boy called your curls ugly?”

“Yeah,” a sheepish grin swept Harry’s lips, “and you loosed the bolts in his chair, causing him to fall back on the greasy pizza you planted.”

A cascade of proudness sailed across Louis’ face. “Who had the ugly hair after that? Oh yeah, he did,” Louis chided, causing Harry to release a giggle, “Asshole never bothered you again.”

Harry never quite understood why he was always the center of Louis’ antics, until someone said or did anything callous to Harry. At that point, Louis would absolutely ruin the person responsible for hurting the one boy in his life worth breathing for. Louis even super glued their kindergarten teacher’s hands to the desk after she forcefully gripped Harry’s wrist, creating bruises on the young boy’s arm. 

Once the pizza arrived, Louis immediately stuffed his slice into his mouth. “Oh my god,” he moaned into the greasy dough, “This is so good. Why the fuck is this so good.”

“Definitely the grease.”

“Hallelujah to the grease,” nodded Louis before speaking again. “Oh!,” he set down his slice and picked up a napkin instead, “I wanted to ask you; since we have a class together-and it’s at a decent time too-would you want to walk to class together? Niall told me you guys live super close to campus and we could sometimes get coffee or something.”

The question seemed small but it meant the world to Harry. “Yeah, that sounds great Lou,” a bright grin washed up on Harry’s face like the first wave of the day at the beach, “Is philosophy your only class?”

Louis rolled his eyes and bit another bite of his pizza.

 “No-“ 

A small ring interrupted his sentence. He reached into his pocket and looked down at his cell phone. The screen read Anastasia.

**Hi baby. I miss you!!**

He stared at the screen before shoving it back into his pocket. 

“Everything alright?” asked Harry. He nodded before continuing his story.

“Anyways, it was so stupid because they told me I could only take a summer class with NYU and dorm here if I took at least two classes,” bleak annoyance bit at his words, “So philosophy was actually the class I was forced to take. But the other is microbiology. I took it last year but this class goes more in depth, which is just what I needed because I decided it’s the field that I want to go in.”

“Ooo, microbiology,” Harry raised and wiggled his eyebrows humorously, “Sounds fancy. What do you do?”

“We concentrate on the biology of microorganisms at both the cellular and molecular level. So that includes their bionomics and ecology, which is like bacteria and viruses,” Louis explained with no trouble. Harry always despised classes such as biology because words like those never clicked in his head. 

“Okay, sounds difficult actually.”

Louis chuckled lowly, picking at his crust before popping it into his mouth. “What are you majoring in?”

“Criminal justice. I’m thinking I might either go into profiling or criminal law,” he shrugged his shoulders, “but it’s just something I have to figure out.”

Louis’ puffed out his lips and squinted his eyes. "Huh," he said questioningly, "I always thought you would major in astronomy or something."

Harry gave him a funny look. "Why's that?"

"Well, you were always questioning the moon, talking about the stars."

_No_ , thought Harry.

_You were the only star I ever wanted to study._  

“But criminal justice? That’s pretty intense, something I definitely wouldn’t be able to do. And now that I think about it, you were always into solving crimes when we were kids. Remember Erika’s lizard’s death? And how you believed it was a murder?” 

Harry finished his pizza, dragging the napkin through his fingers as he laughed at the words Louis spoke. “Yeah, you helped me figure out that John was the murderer. Louis, that case-if you can even call it that-was the dumbest thing we ever did.”

“But you were so good at it. Figuring out it was John was a very problematic task to complete.”

Hearing Louis speak well about Harry inane accomplishments brought a rosy tint to his cheeks. Luckily for him, the waitress came at that time to hand them their check. 

“Here you two are,” she placed it in Harry’s hand, an excuse for her to touch Harry’s fingers. Again, Harry seemed to be unfazed by her actions. 

Louis took out his wallet and handed her money that paid for both meals, causing Harry to halt his hand.

“Lou, no please. I can pay for my own.”

Louis shook his head and lowered Harry’s hand, giving the money to the waitress. “Please, okay? You’ve been so great to me so I just want to show my appreciation. Also because I injured you earlier and I still feel really bad about that.” Harry rolled his eyes and allowed Louis to pay. 

“Fine. But I’m paying for your coffee next week.”

“Whatever you say, baby cakes.”

 

… 

 

They decided to walk back instead of hauling a cab, for the weather was quite decorous for a nice stroll. 

“There really is no need to walk me back to my dorm, Harry,” Louis insisted. Harry knew perfectly well that Louis was able to handle himself but something about just knowing Louis was in his dorm safe soothed Harry’s insides.

“It’s no trouble. It’s on my way home too.”

Louis shrugged and hugged his red jacket across his body as a crisp breeze blew past them.

“How’s your family? I miss your mom.” Louis randomly asked, smiling at the thought of Harry’s mom.

“They’re good!” he shoved his hands into the pockets of his jacket, "My brother is brilliant as always. He actually wants to come here to NYU which is really cool,” he sighed before continuing, "My mom remarried though.”

“She did? To George right? That’s who she was with before?”

“Uh, yeah that’s who she was with but she didn’t marry George,” muttered Harry faintly, “To another guy recently. His name is Tom.”

Louis could sense the turmoil in his voice and was about to question it but Harry beat him to the punch.

“How’s your family, Lou?”

Before answering the question, Louis let it drift in the air, stopping to get a proper look at Harry. He squinted his eyes, mentally telling him that he wanted Harry to talk upon the previous matter at a later time 

“They’re great,” he continued walking, "They still live in the same house before and everything. Even my dogs are still healthy and thriving,” 

It was evident that Louis missed his family due to his dismal grin, “I haven’t seen them in a while though, not since last Christmas. It’s difficult because they’re in a different country.” Harry frowned. Louis’ family always meant the world to him, so Harry knew how much he longed to see them.

“This is me,” Louis sighed as they arrived at his building, “Thanks, Harry. I had fun.”

“Me, too,” Harry beamed and stepped towards Louis. He wrapped one arm around Louis’ shoulder while the other dipped down around his waist. Louis reciprocated the action tightly, provoking Harry to flinch and grab his chest.

Louis clutched Harry’s shoulders in anguish. “I’m so sorry, I completely forgot you were still hurt.”

Harry laughed lightly and gave Louis a consoling smile. “No, I’m okay. Slightly bruised, but I’m fine." 

His hands still rested on Harry’s shoulders, but he didn’t seem to mind. Louis’ eyes flattened down to his chest, expression brimming with anxiety and concern for the boy in front of him. 

“Lou?” Harry’s index finger lightly raised Louis’ head, allowing their eyes to join. “I’m oka-“ 

“Remember that time in the third grade when we were playing hand ball?” he shifted on his legs restlessly, “And I accidentally pushed you and you scraped your leg so bad the school sent you to the hospital?” 

Harry didn’t understand the point of this story. “The doctor thought that you were going to need surgery on your leg. And remember the time where my hockey puck landed in the middle of your street and you ran out to get it, almost getting hit by a huge truck?”

Harry shook his head. “What’s the point of this?”

“The point is that,” he licked his lips and exhaled a shaky breath, “whenever we’re together, you always end up getting hurt somehow and it’s always my fault.”

A voice in Harry’s head told him that he didn’t only mean it in a literal manner. He ignored the voice. “Lou, no, that’s complete rubbish. I get hurt on my own because most of the time I’m just being an idiot. It has nothing to do with you, I promise.”

Hearing Harry say those words should’ve calmed Louis’ nerves, but they didn’t. He gave a fabricated smile and a nod of fake reassurance.  

“Okay,” breathed Harry, “it’s late, I should go.”

Louis nodded, walking backwards towards his building. “Bye, Harry. Meet tomorrow yeah? On the corner of the East building.”

Harry smiled and gave him a thumbs up before turning around and walking around the edge of the building. Louis slumped against the door, eyes looking up at the stars and knowing deep inside his heart that through his own actions, Harry will get hurt again sooner or later.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for waiting!! I quite like this chapter and I hope you all do as well xx
> 
> Tumblr:[x](http://larryfu-k.tumblr.com)  
> Twitter:[x](https://twitter.com/_alysnyder_)

“Hiii,”

Harry waved at the boy who was leaning against the side of the East building. “Hello, Harold. Want to go to the coffee shop? I’m in dire need of caffeine.”

“Yeah, definitely. And I’m glad you do because it’s on me!”

Louis rolled his eyes. He took Harry’s black t-shirt in his small hands and led them across the street to the coffee shop. It was busy, but luckily they had time before their class. A loud voice was yelling out drink orders as the two strolled in, both able to recognize the owner immediately. The agonizing mental pressure of dealing with ridiculous coffee orders quickly disappeared from Cam’s face when his eyes landed on Harry and Louis. 

“Vanilla, no foam, soy-Harry! Louis!” his bright smile and delighted, new tone of voice caused heads to turn. The boys smiled sheepishly and gave small waves.

“Oh! This is a latte by the way.”

A business woman with a phone plastered to her cheek and shoulder smiled and took the coffee. The line went by faster than expected and Cam was ready to take their order with an ecstatic grin.

“Hi guys! God, I love when friends visit me at work. It’s such a good feeling,” his voice dropped down to a whisper and hand motioned for the pair to lean in closer to his face, “rather than all these assholes. I swear to god, earlier this guy asked for a latte with no foam, no milk, no sugar, and no fucking espresso. He was surprised to hear that he had practically just ordered hot water.” 

The boys snorted humorously and let out amused chuckles. 

“What can I get for you two today?” 

Louis side eyed Harry mischievously before placing a hand on his popped hip. “God, those people must be so awful to deal with! Anyways, I’ll take a half-caffeinated, soy, no foam latte at _exactly_ 120 degrees.”

Cam’s mouth fell open at Louis’ absurd drink order, not realizing he was totally messing with him. Harry’s eyes peered down at Louis who was facing Cam with the straightest face. Harry couldn’t help a fond grin appear at his lips.

“Tomlinson, you better be joking right now or else I will cry."

Poor Cam looked so terrified until Louis let out a cheeky laugh, an indication that he was not indeed serious. “I’m totally joking. My order is actually so easy because I do most of the work. I’ll take a jasmine tea please.”

_Jasmine._

The blood flow in Harry’s body ran cold. His bones felt electric, as if Zeus himself came down from the clouds and punctured him with a bolt of lightening. For a moment, the world around him froze, and the only authentic, striking object stood before Harry. It dazzled and evoked fireworks of glimmer through a stare of bright blue eyes, leaving him in a hypnotized state of immobility. The universe can be such an eccentric thing- it rewards us with gifts that we can either chose to accept willingly, or leave concealed.

Harry decided to leave the gift unopened.

“Harry? What did you say you wanted?”

Louis’ soft voice pulled Harry back into a moving reality. “Uh,” Louis touched his arm in a soothing manner as his eyes danced on Harry’s dazed face, “I’ll have the same thing, thanks,” his voice was small but it managed to stay somewhat intact. Cam smiled and rung up their orders. Harry handed him the money for both orders before Louis was able to protest.

“Don’t worry about it Harry! They’re on the house,” Cam stated before turning his back to make the drinks. Louis cocked his eyebrow and gave a look of complacence. “Well, well, well,” Louis sounded almost _too_ pleased with the situation, “Looks like you can’t buy me a drink! Ha!”

Harry pouted and their orders were immediately called out. After the drinks were handed to them, they made their way to the station with the milk, sugar, and creamer.

“I’ll buy you one sooner or later,”

Inside his head, an intense debate occurred over whether or not Harry should ask the next question, for it seemed to be aimless. But he chose to do it anyways.

“So, your favorite tea is jasmine? That’s interesting.”

Louis thinks nothing of the question. “It’s my favorite flower. After we won semi-finals of the county’s biggest hockey tournament, my team thought it would be funny to honor me with a crown made of jasmine flowers and thorns. It was an ironic trophy considering the fact that my violent actions throughout the season definitely did _not_ deserve something as delicate as a flower crown,” he paused, an evocative grin emerging from the shadows, “But it was still beautiful. Soon after, the flowers died and fell off the crown, leaving only the thorns. Which I think is the most ideal symbolism of me.”

“A crown of thorns?”

A dismal smile was directed at Harry as he gave a small nod.

After Harry’s two spoonfuls of honey and a dash of milk, he carefully watched Louis enter his preferred items into his tea. To any other person, it seemed like a tedious, never ending ceremony of a trivial routine for tea. But through the steady determination in Louis’ eyes, it seemed like the most vital ritual of Louis’ day. Harry strained his mind to memorize every step.

“Sorry,” muttered Louis after carefully pouring in another spoonful of milk, “how I take my tea is an incredibly essential part of my day. If this is ruined, then my whole day will be too.”

He gave an awry laugh after that, shaking his head as he reached for a wooden stick to stir the liquid. “I sound mad but it’s so true,” he threw away the stick and popped the lid back on, confining the steam that itched to be released, “No one can ever seem to get my tea order correct too. Not even my mum or girlfriend.”

The word girlfriend was ignored and instead the ingredients in the tea were listed in Harry’s head, repeating the amount in which they were used and the order in which they were placed.

“I’ll be the first person to get it absolutely perfect then,” grinned Harry, leading Louis out the busy shop. 

“I would love to see you try.”

 

…

 

“Throughout history, many religions have promised immortality to those who worship. It may be seen as an esteemed reward,” Professor Holguin lectured to the bounded classroom of students who hastily typed his words on their laptops. Louis had moved to the second row to sit next to Harry, who by far looked the most engrossed in the lecture, “and by others as a dire punishment. Can anyone tell me why that is?”

Harry’s hand was the first to shoot up in the air. Holguin pointed at him, allowing him to answer.

“I see how immortality would be a stimulating concept, but living forever causes you to witness so much anguish of the people around you who are dying and withering away while you remain intact. Life holds so many precious delights, delights that lead me to believe that with immortality, stagnation will soon conquer.”

His answer had many people in reverence, inducing them to sit up in their seats to listen attentively.

Holguin nodded, taking slow strides towards the projector. 

“And do you, Mr. Styles, agree with the concept of immortality?”

Louis’ eyes peered curiously to Harry who’s attention was targeted at the professor. “I think that if you have something or someone to live for then it’s all worth it. That may sound naive but why live forever if you will be alone? At least you will have the enthralling memory of being with the person whom made it all worth it.”

“You didn’t answer my question.”

Harry’s eyes softened but his gaze did not leave the front of the classroom. 

“I do agree."

Holguin smiled, endorsing the answer. Louis’ mind began to wonder about the person who questioned Harry's want to stay immortal.

 

…

 

“Well that was pretty intriguing,” spoke Louis as he walked out with Harry, “Forget Professor Holguin- meet Professor Styles!”

Harry chuckled, gently shoving the smaller boy. “Oh, shut it. The class just really interests me.”

In retribution, Louis reciprocated the shove, but not achieving anything due to Harry’s larger structure. “Interests you? Harry you’re bloody brilliant! I wouldn’t be surprised if you knew more than our professor.”

Harry smiled but it was obvious he didn’t believe Louis’ devoted words. 

“Seriously, Harry, you’re so smart. I don’t know if you noticed but everyone began typing your answers in the notes along with Holguin’s words just because every time you opened your mouth, profound things spilled out.”

Praise was never taken deliberately with Harry; but something about Louis extolling him caused him to feel nothing but pride.

“Thank you, Lou,” he smiled bashfully. A loud ring began to resonate inside his bag. They stopped walking as Harry searched for the item.

“Hello?”

“Harry!” Liam cried through the phone, "Are you out of class?”

“Yes, class just ended.”

“Great! Want to meet Tara and I for lunch? If Louis is with you, bring him too.”

Harry placed his hand over the microphone and turned his head in the direction of Louis. “Do you want to go to lunch with Liam and Tara right now?”

Louis nodded his head and smiled. 

“Yeah, sure. Louis and I will join you guys.”

 

…

 

They all met at Tara’s favorite spot called the Olive Tree Cafe. She loved it due to its creative idea of having chalk tables and entertaining comedy nights. 

“Hey guys!” Tara greeted them lively with a tight hug, Liam trailing after her. 

“Hi Tara, hi Liam,” Louis cooed as he hugged Liam. The four walked into the slightly busy cafe that attended to the rush hour. A small family rose from a booth, allowing the group to snatch it before anyone else did. Louis motioned for Harry to enter first, scooting in after him. Liam and Tara sat across from the pair, picking up the menus that already sat on the table, waiting to be looked at.

“Pretty hectic place, dontcha say?” spoke Louis as his eyes peered around at the bustling waiters and waitresses who took orders. 

“Yeah, it’s always busy here no matter what. Especially on comedy nights,” Tara answered as she pointed at something on Liam’s menu. Louis admired the dim, multi-colored lights on the wood-planked walls along with the silent film that was being played near the bar. Harry leaned into Louis as he watched the movie at his far right, “That’s Charlie Chaplin,” he whispered in Louis’ ear, “He’s practically the king of comedic, silent films.”

“Yeah,” breathed Louis, eyes still watching the screen, “I remember watching one of his films. We both did, actually.”

Harry’s cheek brushed Louis’ shoulder, inducing Louis’ heart to clobber erratically. He felt the skin burn, the sweet burn that an angel’s luminescence would provoke. 

“We did? When?”

“One night at the bowling alley. The lady who would usually watch us was sick that night, so her son came to take care of our group. The bloke was studying film or something and I remember him showing one of Chaplin’s movies.” Louis looked down at Harry, who had fully rested his cheek against the boy’s shoulder. He couldn’t help but inhale Louis’ fresh scent of pure cleanliness. 

“Oh yeah,” Harry lightly moved his cheek in order to look up at Louis, “I do remember. You wanted to try some of his mad stunts but I talked you out of practically murdering yourself,” they laughed together, completely forgetting that friends don’t sit intimately and casually stare into each other’s eyes.

“What would I do without you?” Louis mumbled with a smile filled with enamor. Their actions were so profound; anyone watching would undoubtedly mistake them for a happy couple. 

“Hello, I will be serving you all today," the waiter’s voice brought the two boys back to the real world. Harry removed his cheek from Louis’ shoulder and sat up straight as he picked up his menu. 

“My name is- Oh hey guys! I didn’t recognize any of you under these faint lights,” exclaimed Finn happily. Harry’s head shot up to see the boy who was so fascinated with taking him on a date. He almost didn’t recognize him without the sweaty bloke from the dance floor that was grinding into him, “Hey, Harry,” he smiled admiringly, running his hands through his brown hair. His blue eyes looked dark under the murky lighting that lingered in the restaurant. Harry smiled and gave a small wave. “Have you thought about going on that date with me yet?” Finn winked impudently, causing Harry to release a charmed chuckle.

 Louis stared at Finn, quickly realizing their shared traits. Both boys had light brown, wispy hair, blue eyes, and Finn was incredibly funny along with cheeky. Maybe Harry was actually describing Finn when asked about his preferred type.

“Finn, I didn’t know you worked here?” Tara quizzically inquired. For a small moment, Louis’ eyes dragged over to Harry, holding a question towards his sexuality, but they were quickly torn back to the chalked table in front of him.

“They just hired me actually. Ever since I left the frat house-“

He was interrupted by Liam, “Oh yeah! Cam told me you left. How come?”

Finn shook his head disapprovingly, “The guys in that house are ruthless. They haze the new kids relentlessly, even though it’s illegal. I told them to stop and they slammed me for doing so. I left after that and Cam told me he’s going to leave soon too,” he remarked, placing a hand on his hip. His head moved down to the figure closest to the edge of the booth on Harry’s side.

“Louis? Hey! I didn’t even see you either!”

Louis gave a small smile, “Hi, Finn.”

Harry’s head moved between the two boys, wondering how the hell they knew each other.

“You two know each other?” he asked, voice slightly littered with wariness. 

Louis’ head turned to his left, facing him directly. “Uh, he’s my flatmate while I’m here at NYU.”

“Yeah, Louis here is the best roommate. The school let me dorm for the summer and then when school starts I’m going to get an apartment,” beamed Finn, “Anyways, what can I get you all?"

They all ordered waters along with the cafe’s notorious chicken sandwich. Finn wrote down their orders and took them to the kitchen.

“Finn is so cool,” marveled Tara, “Smart too. He helped me so much during organic chemistry. He was the reason why I passed that damn class."

“He practically asks Harry to go out with him every time he see’s him,” laughed Liam, not realizing Louis’ curious face, “Why won’t you just say yes? He’s so nice and extremely handsome."

Harry shrugged, “I don’t know. Maybe I’ll try one date or something.”

Louis instinctively bit the inside of his cheek, a rush of jealousy engulfing his thoughts. He couldn’t quite understand the reasoning behind it.

“Lou, he’s your roommate?” Tara asked. Louis rolled his lips together and nodded his head, “Yeah. He’s…great,” hostility inkling in the back of his throat.

At that moment, Finn brought them their waters along with a filled pitcher. Bright smiles were flashed before he walked away, but Louis didn’t bother with even faking a grin. Again, he didn’t understand why he was being so belligerent towards Finn who had been nothing but nice to Louis since his arrival at NYU.

Liam whispered something in Tara’s ear, giggling and lacing their fingers together. Whatever he said instantly brought an animated smile to her lips as they shared silent whispers and chuckles.

Harry’s body was faced forward completely, eyes on his folded hands in front of him. He ignored Louis’ protruding stare that soundlessly asked the question that hovered in his head. Instead, he reached for two pieces of chalk in the small tin on the table. 

“Want to play tic tac toe?” he asked, wiggling his eyebrows, causing Louis to giggle childishly.

“Of course,” he took one of the pieces of chalk and drew the four lines on the table, “I always smoked you at this game so let’s see if your skills have gotten progressively worse.”

Harry snorted, “Oh, you’re on.”

Six games were played, five of which Harry ended up winning, and Louis may or may not have let him win.

Finn soon brought their food, and the four ate without another mention of the waiter. 

 

…

 

The Friday lecture was quick to come and go. Both Louis’ and Harry’s phones vibrated throughout the whole class due to messages from a group message with Liam, Tara, Niall, Lila, Cam, and someone along the way added Finn. Niall was begging the group to go with him to a supposedly crazy party at Juilliard.

“Juilliard is one of the most pristine schools in the country,” started Harry as he walked out with Louis, “How would one of their parties be as insane as Niall is bringing it out to be?”

Louis shrugged, “Maybe Mozart is rising from his grave to attend.”

A chuckle spilled from Harry’s lips, “Are you thinking about going?”

Louis sighed, small fingers pushing light brown hair out of his long eyelashes, the prettiest eyelashes that Harry had ever seen. 

“I don’t think so. I have to go to Times Square to pick up the philosophy textbook. I bought it off some bloke who works in a bar.”

“Lou, do you even know your way around Times Square?” Harry stopped in his tracks as he questioned the boy. 

“No…I’m sure I’ll be fine, though,” he bit his lip worriedly, knowing he would get lost in a heartbeat.

“Let me go with you. I know my way around here perfectly,” insisted Harry. Of course he offered because he didn’t want Louis disoriented around New York City. But another part of him wanted to witness the joyous glint in Louis’ eyes as his face lights up when seeing all the mesmerizing parts of Times Square. Louis insisted against it.

“No, Harry, please, go have fun with the group,” his voice filled with plead, “I don’t want to stand in the way of you possibly meeting Mozart!” he joked, but was very serious about Harry instead joining the group. He took a step closer to Louis.

“But I would rather go with you,” he uttered, voice saturated with an airy implication, “I mean, only if you want me to go.”

Louis’ fingers delicately skimmed Harry’s forearm up and down, then lulled on the skin tenderly, “Of course I want you to go with me. But why? The party seems like it’ll be loads of fun.”

Harry subtly pushed his arm into the Louis’ hand, frantic for more contact. “I don’t know,” he shrugged, eyes boring into Louis’ face, “It won’t be fun without you,” his voice was so low. Not because he was embarrassed about his words but because he liked feeling as if they were the only ones in the world. The only ones to hear each other’s blissful conversations and see the small, yet intimate gestures that were presented periodically. 

“Because I’m the life of the party?” Louis winked brazenly, “What did you do around here for fun before me?”

Harry rolled his eyes, attempting to keep a straight face but automatically failing. Who was he kidding, a fond smile always proliferated itself when he was around the cheeky boy.

Blockaded memories that were once impeded began to unfold again, this time prepared to create a whirlwind of sentiment. The entombed memories felt similar to fervent zombies, breaking apart Harry’s mind, climbing over the fresh dirt, and ready to allow the blooming flowers that laid underneath flourish freely. These new, undeniable memories circled around previous feelings that were once felt towards a specific blue eyed boy. The ultimate dilemma with buried feelings is that no matter how hard you attempt to kill the feelings, they will soon return, more powerful than before and prepared to cultivate a garden or diffuse a pernicious plague.

This was only the beginning for Harry.

 

…

 

Before the trip, they stopped by Harry’s apartment to drop off their book bags and grab Harry’s car- which was rarely used in this city. Even though it was the middle of the day, Times Square was surprisingly busy. Countless of austere business men and woman passed the pair, using their briefcases to push through the crowded streets, along with thrilled tourists who even stopped to take pictures of gum on the floor. Louis’ eyes ran over everything they passed, incitement blazing through his mind. 

“What time are we meeting him?”

Louis’ pace slowed, staring at the giant screen that towered over the square. “Hm?” he hummed sweetly, ‘Oh, he said at 3 pm, which is n-“

A loud text message ding cut off his sentence. He pulled it out of his tight, black jeans. “Speak of the devil! He said- oh shit,” Louis cursed, frowning at the screen. 

“What’s wrong?”

“He just texted me asking if we could instead meet at 7:30 instead of 3 o’clock,” he sighed, annoyance hinting in his voice, “He said sorry though.”

Suddenly, Harry realized they were standing in the middle of traffic that was not afraid to knock down anyone who stood in the way. He took Louis’ wrist in his hand, gently pulling him to an abandoned wall out of traffic. 

“That’s okay! We could do something here, if you want? I know so many cool places around here that I know you’ll love,” smiled Harry, his dimples leaving a profound indentation on his cheeks. Louis didn’t even need a second to think about it before he was readily agreeing. 

The first stop was Hershey’s Chocolate World, which almost gave Louis a heart attack. 

“No fucking way,” he breathed, eyes wide at the enormous building that was decorated with an assortment of different Hershey products. Harry grinned and led him inside.

“No _fucking_ way,” Louis repeated, except this time he was in complete awe. “Harry! Look!”

Louis left Harry’s side, running to the machine next to the large Hershey’s sign that welcomed all into the store. “You can mix your favorites! Oh my god!”

At the moment, he was the epitome of being as happy as a child in a candy store. A bright, fond smile plastered across Harry’s mouth, running over to the boy. He grabbed a bucket from the counter and placed it under the hatch. “Okay, what do you want to get?”

Louis eyed his few options carefully, not wanting to choose the wrong thing. “Definitely getting Hershey Kisses,” he pressed the button and an abundance of kisses flew down the winding slide and into the bucket. His mouth molded into a stunned O as he took the bucket, facing Harry who could not wipe off his smile.

“Anything else?” Harry asked, watching Louis pick up a kiss and pop it into his mouth before placing the bucket back under the opening. 

“Yes. I remember you always loved Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, so let’s do some of those,” he pressed the Reese’s button and watched as a flock plummeted down the slide and joined the chocolate kisses. 

“You sure do remember a lot, don’t you?”

Louis took a candy bag from the wall for their chocolates. “All the important things.”

Harry’s favorite candy was far from being an important memory to preserve, but anything relateed to Harry was important to Louis.

After paying for the candy, the two made their way out of the store and were hit with a large crowd of people. Naturally, Louis went to take Harry’s hand, shielding it with his own as he guided them through the congregation of people. Realizing that he had no sense of direction, he turned to his right and dragged their two bodies out of the current. 

“I have no idea where I’m going,” he giggled, still holding Harry’s hand. They giggled together, heads almost bumping. Harry’s eyes looked around, trying to figure out their exact location, when a delicious whiff of grilled meat flew by his nose. A hot dog cart stood next to them and caused both boy’s mouths to salivate and before they knew it, Louis was ordering two New York style hot dogs. The boys took their food and sat on the curb to eat.

“Mmm,” moaned Harry into the bread, splotching mustard on the front of his nose.

“You look like a complete idiot,” Louis giggled, taking out a napkin to clean Harry’s nose. It was such a couple-like gesture but neither boy seemed fazed by the action. 

“Thank you,” grinned Harry, taking another bite of his hot dog. Louis watched his tongue touch the meat before his plump lips wrapped around the bread, moaning again. He could almost swear that Harry moaned a second time just to spite Louis, taking his sweet time with the hot dog in his mouth before biting down and properly chewing the item. Louis felt his pants slowly tighten as he gaped at the lewd act in front of him. He grabbed the bag of candy that sat next to him and propped it on his lap, covering the bulge.

After finishing their food, Harry checked the time to see that it was 5:30. “Alright, we have time for one more event,” he grinned, taking Louis’s hand in his own before joining the large mass of people on the sidewalk. Louis’ hand slipped from Harry’s, instead placing both his hands on Harry’s shoulders as they walked. It was slightly difficult for him due to the noticeable size difference but it didn’t stop Louis.

“Where are we going?” asked Louis amusedly next to Harry’s ear, slightly tickling the back of the boy’s neck. Even though he knew he wouldn’t lose Louis because he was holding onto his shoulders, Harry still reached behind him to plant his right hand on the boy’s waist. The action almost brought Louis flush against Harry’s backside. Louis’ eyebrow cocked for a second, looking down at Harry’s big hand on his small waist. He brought his head back up and instead smiled at the action.

“It’s a surprise.”

“Are you taking me somewhere to murder me? As payback for all the shit I did to you when we were kids?”

Louis could feel the reverberation that was emitted from the laugh that was bellowed from Harry’s mouth.

“Damn, how’d you know? Now I have to reschedule the murder to another day,” he pouted dramatically, looking back at the smiling boy who held onto his shoulders like a monkey.

“At least if you killed me today, I would die happy.”

 

…

 

The elevator ride up to the top of the Empire State building was cramped with enthusiastic people, all ready to take countless photos and videos. The doors opened and people shuffled out to the right, quickly walking down the hallway to the appropriate section for sightseeing. Louis and Harry were the last out of the elevator. Louis began to follow the family in front of him before he was pulled back.

“What is it?”

Harry grasped Louis’ wrist and instead took him to the right, walking in the opposite direction of everyone else. “Harry, where are we going?”

No response; instead he lugged Louis into a congested, empty stairway. It was as small as a janitorial closet, causing their bodies to be pressed together when the door was shut. Harry hovered over Louis, encasing his body in front of the staircase.

“You’ll see,” his breathe puffed on Louis’ face in one motion, a small trail of spit glittering on his bottom lip. He then turned around and walked up the staircase, Louis following behind. They walked up four flights of stairs before stumbling upon a tiny, black door that Harry opened, leading them out of the stairway and onto a roof.

The high air immediately impelled against their bodies. The top floor was completely vacant, stillness lingering in the hushed atmosphere.

“Wow,” exhaled Louis, walking to the edge and taking in the bewitching sight of New York City underneath him. Louis leaned against the concrete rail, placing his hands over the edge. Harry leisurely cruised to Louis’ side, trying not to rake his eyes down Louis’ backside that was projected out more prominently due to his position against the rail.

The top of the Empire State Building was like entering a kingdom in the clouds. Nothing could be heard, but everything could be seen. The feeling was new and should’ve been alarming due to their immense elevation, but Louis felt nothing but peace. 

“This is the secret 103rd floor balcony,” murmured Harry lowly, as if there were people around him to hear, “I found it once a couple years ago and it’s been one of my favorite spots since.”

Louis turned his head to look at Harry, who marveled at the city below. Any usual person would observe the radiant view along with the erythraean sunset that glittered over the sky. Except, Louis was far from normal, so he was looking at the other view next to him. The lowering sun casted an enchanting glow on Harry’s face, highlighting his clear, viridian eyes that twinkled unwittingly. Eyes that embodied beating hearts, pounding against the barricading cage of bones.

“I see why,” he slowly tore his eyes from the side of Harry’s face, focusing on the blended colors that painted the sky, “I would always be up here too.”

“Except that we risk getting arrested each time,” he chuckled. Louis’ eyes went wide.

“What? Really? We could be arrested from being up here?”

Harry turned his head to face Louis’ startled expression, a lopsided grin on his lips. “Wow, past Louis would hear that and get a rush of excitement,” he turned his body, placing his back against the concrete rail, leaning on his elbows away from the sunset, “You _have_ gone soft!”

“Have not,” grumbled Louis, eyes fixated on a moving cloud, “It’s perfectly reasonable for someone to not want to get arrested.”

A beat passed, Harry’s eyes lounging lazily on Louis’ face. They did this motion continuously- one would turn away so the other can take their turn to look. But sometimes the other would turn back too quickly, eager for their turn again, and catch the other’s eyes; which is what took place at that moment.

Louis shifted his head in Harry’s direction again, trapping his gaze with piercing, azure eyes. 

“So,” began Louis, “You and Finn?”

Harry scoffed gingerly, eyes dropping down to his feet. “I’m not sure,” he laughed, “I don’t quite know what’s up with that.”

“Why? He’s definitely your type. He’s everything you described.”

Harry gave a tantalizingly slow nod but didn’t say anything, eyes still focused on his brown boots. 

“So you’re…gay?”

An entertained smile tugged on Harry’s lips. His index finger and thumb reached up to play with his bottom lip. “Yes,” he stated, “is that okay with you?” he asked kindly, not a hint of malice in his voice. 

Louis nodded fervently, “Yeah, of course. I support you completely,” he voiced, gaining an appreciative smile from Harry.

“How…” he continued speaking, voice growing lower, “How long have you known?”

“All my life,” Harry conveyed without thinking. Louis nodded his head precariously. 

“I never told you because at the time I didn’t really know myself,” he stated sincerely, “But when I think back, I know for sure now.”

He looked up, and from the corner of his eye he could see Louis staring at him. 

“How did you know?” 

These questions were not unusual when Harry came out to people, but Louis’ tone echoed hesitantly. As if he wanted to know for himself and not in general. 

“You just know. I never liked the girls at school, and I thought that was because of ‘cooties,’” his fingers air quoted around the last word, receiving a chuckle from Louis, “But as I grew up, I found myself preferring the boy maths teacher over the girl.”

Louis’ face held an unreadable expression. “And when you finally admit to yourself what you truly are,” his eyes tore away from the black door they came through and met Louis’ blank eyes, “the missing pieces to the puzzle finally appear and everything fits.”

Louis began to bite his lip unconsciously, mind engrossed with his words. 

“C’mon, let’s go pick up my book,” he said quietly. He pushed off the ledge, standing up straight and walked forward. 

“Hey, Lou, want a kiss?” Harry’s voice caused him to stop in his tracks. His heart thumped like a rabbit who was trying to outrun a predator. 

_A kiss? I can’t kiss him._ He thought frantically. 

_Or maybe I can. Maybe? I want to._

“What?” his voice shook, distraught evident. He turned around to see Harry holding up the candy bag, a silver piece of chocolate in the palm of his hand.

“Oh! Oh,” exhaled Louis, alleviation taking over with a hint of disappointment, “a _chocolate_ kiss. Right.”

For a beat, Harry didn’t move, eyes burning into Louis’. They felt hotter than the rays of the sunset behind him. He pulled his body up straight, leaning close to the smaller boy as he nodded. There was something in Harry’s eyes, something that he couldn’t quite pinpoint exactly, but it soothed every troubling sensation that ran through his bones thinking about the question that he has hid from for so long. 

 


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> fuck sorry guys this took so long. I just started college and things have been sorta hectic but here's chapter 4!!! thank you to everyone who reads and appreciates this story!! you're all extrememly kind and I love and appreciate each and every one of you!!!!!!!! enjoy xx
> 
> Tumblr: [x](http://larryfu-k.tumblr.com)  
> Twitter: [x](https://twitter.com/_alysnyder_)

It was 2 A.M. when Niall got home from the Juilliard party. Surprisingly, he was not drunk but only buzzed in the slightest way.

“Harry!” his words slurred together a bit but overall, he was completely comprehensible of his surroundings, “Mate, why are you still up and doing work?”

Harry sat on the couch, laptop in his lap as he worked on the small assignment that was due the next morning. “Well,” he yawned, pausing his sentence, “I fell asleep around 12 but I suddenly woke up because I realized I had forgotten to do this shitty assignment which is due at 8 A.M.,” he huffed, stretching his arms above his head.

Niall chuckled and stripped off his black converse before placing himself next to Harry. “8 A.M.? On a Saturday?”

He nodded his head and rolled his eyes. “Ridiculous, innit? He’s a brilliant professor but he needs to calm down with the amount of work he gives,” Harry yawned again, a flash of sleep hitting him, “How was the party?”

Niall’s eyes lit up and he moved his body to face Harry. “Holy fuck. You would not believe this party! It was insane!” he cried, arms flinging into the air for accentuation, “Hands down, the best party that I’ve ever been to. Like, the drinking games were filled with so much energy and everyone was included. This shit was so fun, I didn’t even want to get fucked up because I wanted to remember everything so I could tell you and Louis about it. There was these sick jello shots—“

After Louis’ name was mentioned, Harry’s thoughts were wholly encompassed by nothing other than Louis, something that began to be a daily occurrence. No matter how much Niall raved on about the boisterous party, Harry still found himself thinking that he wouldn’t trade anything for the day he spent with Louis. Everything felt right with him, nothing out of place. A puzzle is a magnificent way to describe the two; a mix of bizarre fragments that when put together precisely, devise a sublime model that is made to represent a carnal reality. The pieces to their puzzle were almost fully intact. The only problem that appears with puzzles is that it is quite simple to lose chunks of the puzzle that is imperative for completion.

“-And someone brought this super cute dog that reminded me of one that I had back home and wow,” he finally inhaled a long breath, “that was the best party ever,” he paused for a moment, reminiscing his night in his head, “Anyways, how was your day with Louis?”

Before allowing a monstrous smile to completely take over his face, he answered quickly, “It was fun! We just roamed around Times Square,” a smile still managed its way to his face. Niall reciprocated the action and ruffled Harry’s hair endearingly.

“Glad you guys had fun! You two seem to be getting on really well, huh?”

The question worried Harry a bit but Niall meant nothing of it; he was genuinely curious.

“Yeah, he’s great and we’re just really compatible,” Harry mentally high-fived himself for his chill answer. He was also surprised with himself for not spilling the truth to Niall regarding their past.

“You guys definitely are!” he exclaimed. A sudden respite occurred due to his skepticism of his next question.

“Do you know if he’s gay?” he advanced his inquiry, not letting Harry answer, “Because if he is, I think you guys would be the perfect couple.”

The question hit Harry like a bus. “Uh, no I don’t think he’s gay—“

“Well, I think if you show him interest he will quickly go your way because let’s be honest, you’re fit as fuck.”

Harry snorted, a loud laugh threatening to spill from his mouth. He had forgotten how bold Niall’s words got when he had a bit too much to drink.

“I believe he has a serious girlfriend.”

Niall’s eyebrows furrowed, eyes dwindling, “What? Really?” his hand cupped his chin in a pondering manner before the realization struck him, “Oh right! Anastasia, I think her name is. He rarely speaks about her. Like, you wouldn’t know if he had a girlfriend unless it occasionally slipped from his mouth.”

Harry sat quietly, not knowing what to say.

“Just odd how he never speaks about her. They have pictures together but the person whom your’e in a relationship with is supposed to be your other half; a person who you always want to babble on and on about.” Niall paused, giving Harry a dazed, yet amused smile. “I mean, Louis talks more about you than his own girlfriend! How funny is that!” Harry’s cheeks went up in flames. He felt disoriented again, mouth dry and he almost had to physically stretch words out of his mouth as if he was pulling them from the bottom of his stomach. 

“Yeah,” he swallowed, “very funny.”

Niall rose from his spot, yawning and reaching his arms to the ceiling. “I’m knackered, I’m about to knock out right here,” he hopped over Harry’s legs and leisurely strolled to the staircase, “Goodnight! I loooove you,” he stretched out the word with a dopey smile on his lips.

“Goodnight, Niall. I looooove you more!” Harry giggled, watching Niall walk up the steps. He turned his head back to his computer screen, eyes focused on the paper’s words but his concentration was somewhere else. He couldn’t figure out his feelings. Whether he actually felt something, or if his emotions were playing tricks on him.

 _You only think you like him again_ , thought Harry.

_This isn’t real._

Too bad Harry was never a good liar.

 

…

 

Sunday workouts went fairly quick for Harry. He enjoyed the peaceful atmosphere of a Sunday which motivated him to hit the gym for a good hour.

“Niall!” he yelled through the flat breathily after closing the door behind him. “I’m back from the gym! I’m still mad that you made me go alone though.”

For a moment, the apartment emitted a quiet lull. Harry frowned and placed his keys on the table by the door.

"Niall?" he repeated, a string of silence answering him. The bathroom door down the hall opened and a shorter figure emerged, decked out in hockey gear. The boy smiled and walked to Harry.

"Lou? What are you doing here?"

The large, green jersey that hung on his chest caused the brown haired boy to look even smaller. Black hockey shorts with dark green and white stripes that lined the knees hugged his thick thighs, along with white knee paddings that were worn under long, sable socks. Astonishment flowed through Harry's mind, thinking about how similar he looked from his child self in the uniform. The colors were the only different aspect, along with the fact that Louis' features have matured over the years. Harry forgot that he was practically drooling over the boy in front of him.

"Hi, Harry," smiled Louis, "I was supposed to go play hockey with Niall but he just called me saying that he got held up at work."

Shaking his head, Harry let out a breathy laugh, "So he blew off our gym plan to play hockey with you, but then got stuck at work? Karma's a bitch."

Louis laughed, folding his arms against his chest as he leaned against the wall, Harry doing the same against the door.

"Yeah, but now I don't have anyone to play hockey with! I got dressed for nothing," pouted Louis. His eyes fell to his feet for a brief moment before they mischievously rose to Harry's face, a wicked smile on his face.

"Unless…” he sang, “you want to play with me?"

Harry's eyes grew, a rush of trouble surged through him, remembering their past hockey games. Louis always made sure to never hurt Harry during a game, no matter how barbaric his temper got the best of him. But Harry hated how terrible he was at the game; the rules didn't make sense to him, the uniform was uncomfortable, and he always woke up the next day with strange bruises.

"But I'm shit at hockey," he muttered, "I always miss the bloody ball."

Louis rolled his eyes, fondly smiling. "It's called a puck, Harry."

"See! I can't even get the main object's name right!" he pouted childishly, fixing the thin, bright pink headband that restrained his curls from brushing his face.

"Please? It'll be so much fun, I promise," he stepped forward, standing directly in front of Harry and lightly brushed his fingers over Harry's elbow. Goosebumps creeped over his skin. "Just like old times! Except, this time, please don't run after the puck into a busy street. Nearly gave me a heart attack last time you did that."

Louis dropped his hand from Harry's elbow, simply giving a smile along with pleading eyes. Harry's fingers fiddled with his bottom lip as he pondered Louis' proposal.

"Okay, fine. I'll play with you."

A huge grin washed over Louis' face. He hopped into the air before jumping into Harry's arms. The action surprised Harry, but he still wrapped his arms around the smaller boy. He could feel Louis' racing heart against his own and wondered if it was pounding because of Harry's answer or due to the hug.

"Yes! We’re going to have a blast, Haz," Louis pulled his face from Harry's shirt, but still kept his arms sheathed around his neck. "Let's go see if Niall's uniform fits you. Hopefully the outfit is washed."

They both smiled and Harry dropped his hands from Louis' waist, expecting Louis to also drop his arms, but they remained around his neck vigilantly. For a second, Louis looked scared to be in the position that he was in, but chose to be still and not move. The feeling between them was underived, like they unlocked a new level in a video game. This level felt as if it was a more advanced level in a game where the beginning is ethereal, while the end takes all willpower and weapons to defeat the monster. Louis' face never edged forward, but his eyes never left the virid colored eyes above him.

"Should...should we go find the uniform?" breathed Harry. Louis quickly nodded his head, dropping his arms to his side. He turned on his heel, leading Harry to Niall's room, which was downstairs.

Thankfully, Niall had already placed the uniform neatly on the bed. Harry picked up Niall's blue jersey that already fit Niall enormously, so it would be a perfect fit for him. He chose to just wear the black running shorts that he had on, which looked similar to Louis'. He slid on the white knee pads before grabbing the black socks on the bed, scrunching his nose at the material in his hands.

"What is it?" asked Louis.

"It's a bit gross, innit?” complained Harry, “Wearing someone else’s socks? What about foot fungus?"

"Do you want to wear some of mine instead?"

Harry gave a small smile, "Because your feet are sparkly clean, right?"

"Well, I feel like you would have a better bet with my perfect feet rather than Niall's rancid ones."

"Good point."

Louis left the room but soon returned with his extra pair. Once Harry was completely dressed, they walked to the living room to put on their shoes and fetch their gloves.

"It's not ice hockey, right?" asked Harry fretfully.

"No, it's just field hockey. They have an ice rink not too far from here but I think it'll be easier to do it on the field,” replied Louis as he slipped on his special running shoes, "Why? Would you prefer being on the ice?"

"No!" Harry shouted abruptly, causing Louis to snap his head up, raising an eyebrow at the wide-eyed boy.

"I mean, no. Um, field hockey is fine," sputtered Harry, his voice strained with alarm.

“Harry, do you not know how to skate on the ice?” The question was not in any way rude or malicious; it was stated in a sweet manner, as if Harry were a small child with no knowledge of the world.

“No,” he stated bashfully, “you said that you wanted to teach me.”

 

The old memory quickly emerged into Louis’ brain, remembering vividly what had happened.

It was after one of Louis’ practices. Louis’ parents were working late that night so they had asked Harry’s mom to pick him up. All the kids had already gone home, Louis being the last on the ice.

“Coach! Coach, I’m so sorry we’re late. I lost track of time,” explained Harry’s mom to the man with a whistle dangling from his neck. As the adults spoke, Harry strolled to the glass that surrounded the rink. He watched Louis glide back and forth with the stick in his hand and the puck dancing at his feet. Then, in one swift motion, the stick heaved the puck directly into the black goal, nearly splitting the puck in pieces.

“Woo!” yelled Harry, “And the crowd goes wild for Tomlinson!” He started impersonating yelling, screaming fans, using a hoarse yell to cry out in a frenzy. Louis turned around to face Harry, a proud grin on his face.

“You guys are a bit late,” he shouted from the center of the rink.

“I know, my mom is talking to your coach right now,” Harry pointed behind him to the two adults who walked out the doors, leaving the boys.

“What?” yelled Louis, bringing his large, white hockey glove up to his ear, “I can’t hear you! Come onto the ice, there are extra skates by your feet.”

Harry looked down and stared at the dark purple skates, the sharp blade glaring back evily at the young boy.

“Uh…” he murmured, knowing that Louis couldn’t hear him, “Louis, I don’t know how to skate.”

“What?” yelled Louis again, not moving from his position on the ice.

“I don’t know how to skate!” screeched Harry, voice echoing through the entire stadium. Louis frowned, gliding his way to the glass.

“You don’t know how to skate?” he questioned. Harry shook his head no, embarrassment tinting his cheeks.

“Then I’ll teach you! I’m real good, I promise!” he squealed merrily, placing his hands on the glass. Harry’s right hand came up to play with his bottom lip, something he did when he felt anxious.

“I don’t know…”

“Please? I promise I won’t let anything happen to you,” sincerity flooding Louis’ voice. Eventually, Harry agreed, and he sat down to slip on the purple skates.

“How,” he begun to stand up before almost losing his balance. Louis quickly grabbed his waist, not letting him fall to the floor. “How do you skate in these? Let alone stand?”

Louis laughed as he helped the boy waddle to the ice. “Don’t worry, I’ll show you.” He wrapped both hands around Harry’s before he stepping onto the ice, Harry’s feet still fastened onto the carpet.

“Okay, now, I need you to trust me,” spoke Louis, “Do you trust me?”

Harry nodded his head, “Yes, yes I trust you.”

Louis beamed, tightening his grip on Harry’s hands. “Okay, follow my instructions and-“

“Boys! Let’s go! I have to go pick up the baby at Jackie’s house!” bellowed Harry’s mom from the entrance.

“But, mum! Louis is about to teach me how to skate!” cried Harry, turning his head to face his mom. She shot him a sympathetic look. “I’m sorry love, but we have to go! Next time you can learn!” She shut the door, allowing the slam to echo profoundly throughout the rink, leaving the two alone. The frown upon Harry's face stuck like glue, eyes fastened on the purple skates.

"Hey, it's okay! I can always teach you next time," Louis swung their hands gently back and forth, causing Harry to meet his kind eyes.

"You promise?"

"I promise."

 

The memories shared between the two were always so vivid, as if they had been just yesterday. Louis felt content bubble in his stomach, knowing that he was not the only one who recalled everything.

"You remember that?"

Harry nodded, sitting down to lace his shoes as Louis stood above him.

"And you never learned because of my promise?”

For a second, Harry said nothing, lacing the shoes slowly.

"I mean," he sighed, "Kind of? I never got a chance to learn but you did promise so I just thought-“

he huffed out a puff of air, his voice being cut abruptly by his own self, “Never mind. It’s stupid.”

Before a protest could manage its way out of Louis’ mouth, Harry was standing up and grabbing their gloves along with both hockey bags filled with gear.

“Okay,” he smiled, “lead the way.”

 

... 

 

The park was fairly secluded. As people drove past, it was difficult to see it past the trees and bushes. But overall, it was the most beautiful park Harry had ever stepped foot in. A lovely path surrounded by bushes of diverse flowers and trees stood directly in the middle of the park. The lane looked so myserteous, appearing as if the road continued to nowhere. Across their field sat a small playground where a few children jumped around, dancing gleefully in the sand.

In Harry’s opinion, the hockey meadow was the most enchanting. All around, flowers bloomed, casting their beauty over the summer day. The goals on each side of the field were engulfed by a certain bunch of delicate white flowers that flourished on thick, green vines braided into and over the goal’s net. Harry stood in the middle of both goals, admiring the beauty that looked as if it came straight from a Disney film. He squinted his eyes toward the flowers, due to their extreme sense of familiarity. He didn’t even notice how Louis was already sitting on the bench on the other side, slipping on his gloves along with his helmet.

“Harry!” he called, allowing Harry to fall out of his trance. He jogged over to Louis who handed him his gloves and helmet.

“Beautiful, innit?” said Louis as he stood up and stretched his arms.

“Yeah, it is,” breathed Harry, getting one last, long look.

“So, how do you want to play this? Just like we used to?”

“Just like we used to.”

“Alright, Styles. Game on.”

The pair jogged to the middle, decked out in their hockey kits with sticks in one hand. Louis placed the black puck between the two.

“My goal is that one,” he pointed behind him to the goal nearest the playground, “and yours is that one,” he pointed behind Harry to the goal nearest the trees that blocked the street, “Whoever gets to 20 goals, wins. Ready?”

“Go easy on me, Lou,” pleaded Harry, worry building in his eyes.

“Don’t worry, I will,” he placed himself into ready position and counted down from 3.

“3…2…1…Go!”

Immediately, Louis shot off with the puck, leaving Harry in the same spot looking dumbfounded. For having short legs, Louis was like a bullet. Harry heaved after him but before he even got close, Louis swung the stick and popped the puck right into the opening.

“Louis!” cried Harry, throwing his hands into the air with exasperation, “You said you would go easy!”

“I know,” panted Louis, ducking his head to retrieve the puck, “I just really wanted to do that.”

Harry rolled his eyes playfully, stalking back to the center, Louis running behind.

"I promise, now I'll go easy!”

"You better, Tomlinson. Or else."

Louis raised his eyebrow and walked towards Harry, feet directly on the white line that split the field. His head looked up to Harry, causing Harry to tilt his head down to Louis, noses millimeters from touching.

"Or what?" He grinned slyly, anticipating Harry's answer.

"Or..." whispered Harry, his breath tickling Louis' upper lip, "Or I'll choke you again," he giggled, dimples peeking out and green, vibrant eyes showing nothing but tenderness.

“Ooo,” purred Louis, smiling at Harry with crinkly eyes, “I like the sound of dark Harry. Maybe I’ll get you angry more often,” he winked.

Harry laughed louder and harder, picking up his stick and readying himself for the next round.

“Oh my god. Let’s just play.”

Louis set the puck down. “Okay. 3…2…1….Go!”

 

…

 

“That was such a cheap shot!”

Harry threw down his hockey stick onto the grass, marching straight up to Louis who stood against the goal with a smug look.

“It was most definitely not.”

Harry was attempting to seem tough and angry, but he wasn’t able to keep a straight face.

“You’re the biggest cheater ever! You can’t just trip people because you’re losing!” he brushed off the grass and dirt from his knees.

“It’s not my fault you run like a baby giraffe! I’m surprised you don’t flop around all day!”

“You’re just mad because I’m beating you,” Harry said, sticking out his tongue.

Louis rolled his eyes and adjusted his helmet. “Don’t get too confide-“

A loud screech erupted from the concrete path, interrupting Louis’ words.

“Hey, Tomlinson!” someone cried out.

A group of six guys appeared from behind the trees, all wearing hockey kits and carrying sticks. The guys all displayed a face of malice or a tight frown. Louis immediately jumped in front of Harry, keeping him behind, near the goal entrance.

“Wow!” exclaimed the one with black, slicked hair that had way too much product. He was fairly tall, perhaps a bit shorter than Harry. His face was pale, allowing the dark freckles that littered his cheeks stand out prominently. It seemed as if a venomous smile was always tainting his face, “I know your little bitch’s voice anywhere!”

Louis’ fists balled tight around his hockey stick, fingers close snapping the wood like a twig.

“We just had to come over here and see the show for ourselves,” he continued, “and it truly is a pathetic one.”

“You’re the one who’s wasting your time then, Oliver,” spat Louis, “Why don’t you and your little twats fuck off and leave us alone.”

“And what if we don’t?” bellowed the boy who was apparently named Oliver.

“Then I’ll just have to break your fucking nose all over again in front of your idiotic friends,” huffed Louis, voice full of fury.

“That was one time, Tomlinson!” the boy squealed, his pale face turning a dark shade of red, “If it was now, I’d fucking rip you apart!”

Harry was extremely confused and definitely didn’t want Louis to break any noses.

“Lou, come on, let’s just go,” he whispered, hand tugging on Louis’ elbow.

Oliver’s face transitioned back to its pasty, original state.

“Aw!” he cooed mockingly, “Is this your boyfriend?”

Oliver’s eyes raked up and down Harry’s body, eyes full of gruesome lust, “I wouldn’t mind putting my hockey stick in that.”

“Watch your fucking mouth,” Louis barked, taking a step closer to the taller boy.

“So he is your boyfriend!” yelled one of the boys.

“No, he is not. But I don’t appreciate when my friends are harassed by disgusting people.”

Oliver scoffed, rolling his eyes while a sickly sweet grin still tugged at his lips.

“So if he isn’t your boyfriend,” he stepped forward, causing Louis to take a step back to grab Harry’s arm, eyes never leaving Oliver’s face, “then you won’t mind if I spoke to him right? Ask if that tight ass of his needs-“

Louis’s hand released Harry’s elbow and surged towards him with fists balled at his side.

“I swear to God, don’t you dare touch him!" Harry grabbed Louis, holding him back.

“You think you’re so good at everything, don’t you? Just because you broke my nose once doesn’t mean you can do it again.”

“Want a bet?” Louis pushed out of Harry’s grasp and jumped in Oliver’s face, both boys sporting a deep scowl with heated eyes.

“I bet that you can’t beat my team at hockey,” sneered Oliver, a derisive expression on his face, “You can gather up your stupid little team and we can play a full game.”

“Fine,” Louis hissed, “challenge accepted. What does the winner get?”

Oliver thought about it for a moment before his eyes fell on Harry, “I want him.”

“Fuck you. Leave him out of this,” Louis’ voice was so stern, something Harry hadn’t heard in years.

“Fine. Then I want to break your nose just like you broke mine all those years ago.” The wild craze in Oliver's eyes frightened Harry to a great extent; it reminded him of the Joker who would do anything to get high off a barbaric fight.

“Deal.”

Harry instantly broke in, trying to talk Louis out if it, “Lou, no. Don’t do this.”

“And if my team wins,” Louis continued, ignoring Harry’s protest, “I get to break your nose and all your teammate’s noses.”

“Deal!” Oliver cried, ignoring his teammates’ defiances, “3 weeks, Tomlinson! This field. Be ready.”

With that, Oliver led the group back from where they came from.

“Oh, and this is a special game!” yelled Oliver in a sick tone of voice from the path, “No rules, anything goes! Happy training!”

Louis didn’t turn around for almost a minute, watching the group stalk off. His hands were still adhered into fists as he gripped the stick before finally throwing it onto the grass along with his helmet.

“I fucking hate that bloody wanker!”

He turned around to face Harry, fire completely taking over the blue water that usually occupied the circles.

“Harry, I’m so sorry about that. I want to murder him for saying those things about you.”

Harry still held an expression that was a mix of bewilderment and panic, “It’s okay. Who was that?”

Louis ran his fingers through the hair that was once matted to his forehead, “Uh,” he let out a grand sigh of air, “Remember that time that you came to my hockey game?”

“Mmm,” he hummed, “It was the only game you let me attend.”

“Yeah,” he sighed, “remember when I got really angry? And I, uh-“

“You broke that kid’s nose directly on the ice?” Harry said, helping Louis with his sentence. Louis winced, having an obvious issue with his past action.

“Yeah,” his jaw clenched and his eyes wouldn’t meet Harry’s, “yeah that. Well, it's a small world and that kid was Oliver. When I joined this new team here in New York, we played against his team. He remembered me by my name and number on my jersey. He really wants revenge and he’s been a complete, fucking dick.”

He noticed how smoothly Louis’ anger transformed into distress. It was such a weird thing to see, especially because Harry was always so used to Louis fighting, tackling kids for no reason.

"I just," he began, "I wish I hadn't been such a complete violent, hot head when I was a child who didn't think about any consequences. I should've always just listened to you. And I just blew up again and fuck, I’m so sorry-”

“Louis.“

“I just wanted to make sure he didn’t do anything to you because you know I would fuck him up right-“

“Lou,” hissed Harry to get the words to stop babbling from Louis’ mouth, “please, it wasn’t your fault. I just don’t want you to get into fights because of me.”

“I’ve never gotten into fights because of you,” spoke Louis, “It’s never been your fault. When I punched Dillon in the 4th grade for starting that gross rumor about you, I did it because he deserved it. Obviously, I know now that I shouldn’t have done it but fuck, it felt good. No one is allowed to hurt my Harry.”

He dropped the gloves in his hands as his body froze completely, realizing what he just said. Harry raised an eyebrow, an amused smile over his face.

“I- I mean, you,” stuttered Louis, “No one is allowed to hurt you.”

Harry could not wash the smile from his face. Something about hearing Louis call him his filled his heart with joy. He felt intoxicated just by hearing Louis speak about something that Harry had dreamed about all his life.

“Oliver is terrible and you had a right to be angry.”

Louis said nothing, instead he lightly kicked a patch of dirt and pulled off the large gloves that practically ate his small hands.

"Wow," Harry breathed, amazement striking his face, "you really do hate your past actions, huh?"

Louis gave a slow, silent nod—arms crossed against his chest with a sorrowful frown.

"Did you explain to him how you're not the same person and how you found Jesus?"

Finally, Louis casted a modest smile that still had as much effulgence as the sun, "I tried to explain that to him but I chose the wrong nose to break. That guy is absolutely mad."

"I can tell. Did you see the insanity in his eyes? I swear to god they were just black holes."

"I'm pretty sure he's the Devil," he finally smiled wide and picked up his things from the floor.

Since their game was rudely interrupted, they decided to grab their things and leave.

"At least my last goal was the most intense goal of the day," grinned Louis, trying to push Harry's buttons, "The puck nearly brought down that vine of flowers!”

“Speaking of those, what kind of flowers are they?” inquired Harry as they walked off the field, head turning to get a last good look at the conversant flowers.

“Jasmine flowers. They actually just started blossoming too," Louis exclaimed as he adjusted the extremely large hockey bag that he was struggling to carry because it was bigger than himself. Harry gingerly took it from his back, lugging it over the other shoulder opposite from Niall's bag. Louis smiled timidly as he said thank you before continuing.

"It was weird, the day after the party at the frat house, I came here to practice with my team and the goals were just braided with those vines of flowers.”

“The party where we met again?”

Louis nodded his head, “Yeah. Strange right?”

Harry nodded and twisted his head to the left, eyes falling on Louis instead of the path before him. Now, Harry knew for sure that the repetition of these flowers was not a coincidence, for it was definitely telling him something. And he knew exactly what that was. The sun behind Louis' head begun to fall beneath the earth, yet an iridescent glow was emanated. The sun loved Louis, always making sure to say goodbye to the day when it would make Louis' true form as an angel come alive. Louis turned to find Harry giving him a stare filled with admiration. Instead of asking why he was staring, he reciprocated the stare suffused with nothing but love. And in that moment, something clicked. One of the last puzzle pieces fell intact with the rest, a piece that had been lost but was vital for it's overall foundation.

"And yes, you did beat me," said Louis softly, cheeks gaining a subdued blush, "I'm very proud of you too."

Harry flashed a blindingly happy smile, eyes glowing with gratification. Louis let Harry win, just like when Harry let Louis win at tic tac toe. Sometimes one just wanted to see the other smile with honor, as someone does when they're proud. Louis wanted to be the one who always did that. He wanted to make Harry the happiest person on earth, craved to have him all to himself. Lately, he had come to the realization of what he actually wanted, and that wasn't Anastasia or any girl he had tricked himself into liking. No, his lies were no longer sufficient. The signs had finally begun to click; it felt as if the world started circling again, the gray clouds in the sky finally disintegrated and the azure blue painted the sky. The warm feeling streamed into his body and pooled in his tummy. Freedom was at his fingertips, and being a free man with Harry was a euphoric dream.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HIII I know it's been a while, and I'm so so so sorry again. I promise I'm going to try to update more!! but this is chapter 5 and I hope you all enjoy!!!! xx  
>  [x](http://www.larryfu-k.tumblr.com)  
> [x](https://twitter.com/_alysnyder_)

Louis' hockey team had been training nonstop for a week straight. Relentless drills after running constantly without a break. But Louis' reward was being able to go to Harry's house afterwards to unwind.

"You smell like a wet dog," cringed Harry, closing the door behind Louis.

"Nice to see you too, love," Louis laughed and stood on his tippy toes to purposely linger his hug, "I'm the cutest dog ever though, right?" he removed his face from Harry's neck and batted his eyelashes. Harry grinned and rolled his eyes, squirming out of Louis' grasp. 

“The cutest dog ever."

Louis blushed and placed his hockey bag next to the door. 

"So," began Louis with a mischievous grin on his face, "Niall is working, meaning that we're alone," his hand came up to cup his chin, "Whatever will we do?"

 

...

 

"Oh for the love of God, Harry, stop cheating!"

"I'm not cheating! I drew a yellow card so I can move from the Gooey Gumdrop spot!"

"Oh really?" Louis cocked an eyebrow, "Then where's the card?"

A small smile brushed Harry's lips as his guilty eyes fell on the Candyland board. 

"I lost it."

"You're full of shit!" yelled Louis as a boisterous laugh fell from his lips. Just as he was about to flip the board on Harry, his phone begun to ring on the bedside table. Louis flopped on his tummy on the bed to reach it.

"Who is it?" asked Harry, amusement lingering in his voice due to Louis' outbreak. 

"Um," he mumbled, "it's Anastasia. I should take this," said Louis. He raised the phone and looked at Harry, who was lying on his side with his elbow bent to support his body, and head near Louis' feet. "I've been dodging her calls all day," he muttered silently before answering.

"Hi, Ana," greeted Louis. 

Harry’s hand came up to hold his head and a laugh tickled his throat as he heard Louis use his fake voice. The laugh quickly incinerated in his throat and his eyes grew dismal as he watched Louis talk to his girlfriend. He had forgotten about her existence, especially because Louis never dared to speak about her. 

"Yeah, I miss you too," he spoke on the phone. His eyes quickly glanced to Harry and then back to the board game on the bed. 

How could Louis pretend to love her? The thought worried Harry because there was a chance that he did truly love her—and not him. It scared Harry to death; there was no one on the planet who Harry loved more than Louis. But he didn't want to lament over this issue in front of him. The hand that held his head slowly lowered down to the bed, near Louis' feet. In a swift motion, Harry gave Louis' left foot a little tickle, causing a violent jerk to surge through his foot along with a low squeal from Louis. He rolled onto his back and snapped his head down towards Harry, a charmed grin spread across his lips. 

"Stop," he mouthed, yet they both knew he meant the opposite.

Harry continued to move his fingers against Louis' feet, except this time he did it faster and with more force until they were both in a fit of giggles. 

"Louis? Are you alright?" Harry heard through the phone. 

"I'm fine!" he breathed, trying to contain his laughs. His eyes dashed down to Harry who smiled proudly. Louis continued to speak to his girlfriend, secretly hoping Harry would touch him again. Harry rose from his side and leaped over the game board, jumping to Louis's side of the bed. He straddled Louis' hips, emitting a surprised gasp from Louis, and tickled his tummy like crazy.

"Harry, stop it!” Louis hissed, hand covering the microphone on his phone. Harry ignored his protests and continued to dig his fingers over his shirt, fingers sometimes brushing under and onto feathery, warm skin. Louis' manic laugh filled the room, along with Harry's loud giggles. It was a miracle that Anastasia was still on the phone with him. 

“What?” he spoke on the phone, “Yeah, I’m listening.” It took every muscle in Louis’ body not to laugh.

“Is someone else there?” asked Anastasia on the other line.

“No!” cried Louis, “Just me. Go on.”

Harry rolled his eyes and sat back on his knees, arse brushing Louis' crotch. At that moment, Louis thanked his lucky stars for keeping on the protective cup in his pants, or else Harry might've gotten a certain surprise. 

After what felt like a lifetime, the conversation was finally coming to an end.

"Okay, I'll call you later. Bye," Louis looked up at Harry who was still straddling his body. He quickly hung up the phone, and Harry could've sworn that he heard her say "I love you" before Louis said his goodbyes, meaning he completely ignored her. It caused Harry's heart to flutter.

Louis threw his phone on the other side of the bed and smiled up at Harry.

"Thought you said I smelled like a dog?"

"I never said I didn't like it," rendered Harry sweetly, pushing a curl out of his eyes. Before he could move, Louis flipped their bodies, pushing Harry’s back onto the bed and climbing onto his torso instead. 

“Remember when we used to wrestle when we were younger?”

Harry rolled his eyes. “Yeah. And you kicked my ass every time.”

“And I’ll do it again!”

“Oh really?” Harry cocked an eyebrow and looked up at Louis, “You’re so tiny, I bet you couldn’t do any damage.”

A surprised ‘O’ formed on Louis’ mouth, “I’m not tiny! You’re just a giant.”

In one swift motion, Louis pinned both of Harry’s hands above his head. Due to his shorter arm length compared to Harry, his chest lowered against Harry’s along with both their heads. The soft hair wisp that usually strayed on Louis’ forehead slightly dangled above Harry’s face, reminding him of a mistletoe.

“See? If I’m so tiny, then how can I do this.”

“Your wrists are barely covering mine,” giggled Harry. His dimples popped on his cheeks, conjuring the sudden urge for Louis to kiss every single indentation.

Harry’s wrists were freed, but fingers still danced slowly across his skin. They tiptoed down his arms and chest before landing on his waist, thumbs burning circles into the skin. Chills ran over Harry’s body, creating thousands of goosebumps to surge and take over every bit of skin. Louis’ eyes followed the fingers everywhere they went while Harry’s eyes watched the boy touch him. The view from up above was mesmerizing; Louis was on top of him, hands on his waist with thumbs lightly digging into his love handles. It was truly some psychedelic dream.

Before thinking about the consequences, Harry dropped his hands from above his head to Louis’ waist as well. A hushed gasp was emitted from Louis’ mouth but he soon maneuvered his fingers lower on Harry’s waist until they were under his shirt, playing in the same spot but this time, on bare skin. Harry seized the opportunity to do the same. He gently lifted the thick, black hem of the hockey jersey and laid his warm fingers on naked skin. The feeling was enough to make Harry cry. 

He wanted to take Louis right there, flip him over and make him feel better than his girlfriend ever did.

Everything was so good that inevitably, Harry knew his pants would feel tighter. Louis wasn’t even moving his hips and he still had the power to give him a semi with the slightest of touch. Before it grew to its full capacity, Harry flipped Louis over and jumped off the bed, almost tripping over his feet. Louis looked at him as if he was absolutely mad. 

“Uhh,” groaned Harry, cheeks growing red with heat, “I-I have to go to the b-bathroom,” before catching another glance at the small boy, he rushed into the bathroom in his bedroom. His reflection almost scared him; he looked like he was losing his mind. Louis had that wonderful ability on people. His heart pounded in his chest and he didn’t know how to calm himself down.

“Jesus,” he whispered to himself, “get yourself together. It’s just Louis,” he ran cold water under his fingers and lightly sprayed his face. “Lovely, beautiful Louis,” he mumbled as he stared at his reflection. He couldn’t help but smile as he thought about the lovely, beautiful boy that sat on his bed. He quickly patted his face dry and exited the room. A frown crossed over his face when Louis wasn’t where Harry left him. He exited the room and shuffled down the stairs to see Louis strapping back on his shoes. 

“I’d better get going.”

Harry folded his hands across his chest and nodded, a small smile on his lips. Louis stood from the couch and gave Harry his usual hug goodbye, tucking his head into his chest. It lasted a little longer, but neither minded. Once they pulled apart, Louis grabbed his bag from the door and left.

In most friendships, if something sensual were to happen like that, it would lead to an awkward tension. But they didn’t have any ordinary friendship—they never did. They’ve always been special, one constantly chasing after the other ever since Louis squirted glue into Harry’s hair in their kindergarten class. The act infuriated Harry, but it was the best day of his life because it’s how he met Louis.

 

…

 

That Saturday night, they all decided to hit up the club that Tara began working for. None of them had ever been but the line was incredibly long so that was an indication of how popular it was. Luckily, they didn’t have to wait at all.

“It’s so fucking loud in here,” yelled Lila over the blaring techno music, “I can’t even hear my own words!”

“But we get free booze so we have to deal with it!” cried Niall cheerfully as he led everyone to their booth in club Marquee. Electric blue and green lights shined from every direction, causing eyes to watch the lights bounce off the dark walls. A dazzling, gigantic disco ball hung directly above the middle of the dance floor and sent rays of white sparkles to radiate from the sphere. It was nothing they had ever seen and they were so grateful for Tara’s job.

“Tara, you have the best job ever!” squealed Niall as she brought a tray filled with different types of liquor. He snatched the bottle of Jaeger and immediately poured Lila and himself a shot.

“A true gentleman,” she giggled. They tapped glasses and tipped back all the liquid. They fell into a fit of giggles before taking another shot and entering the dance floor which was filled with an insane amount of people.

Harry turned to face Louis who was staring at the disco ball. “Want to take some shots?”

Louis’ head came down to look at the boy’s face. Even in the dim lights, Harry still looked beautiful.

“Thought you would never ask.”

Harry grabbed the bottle of tequila and poured two shots.

“Cheers!” wailed Louis. Both shots were polished in an instant and before they knew it, 3 more rounds of burning liquid flowed down their throats. Limes were quickly thrown into their mouths to alleviate the stinging sensation. 

Louis removed the lime from his mouth and instead moved his head to Harry’s ear. 

“Let’s dance.”

Harry nodded and grabbed Louis’ wrist, leading him to the dance floor. 

At the table, Tara and Liam sipped vodka based drinks and cuddled in the booth where it was much quieter than being out on the dance floor.

“Anastasia called me earlier,” Tara said to Liam. He looked down at her with a puzzled expression.

“Why?”

“She said she was coming down here today,” she replied, twirling her red drink with a black straw, “But I didn’t believe her because she always says that and never means it. It gets really annoying.”

Liam chuckled and tightened his arm around her shoulder.

“Plus, I told her not to come.”

“Why’d you tell her that?”

Tara’s eyes looked straight to the sweaty bodies dancing in the middle of the room. “Because last time she came, Louis was miserable. And she was only here for one night!” she cried. Liam nodded his head and sipped his drink. Tara’s voice dropped, but Liam could still hear her.

“Louis is so happy right now, being with Harry. I don’t want her to ruin that.”

Liam smiled as he thought about his two friends, “Yeah, I agree. They’re both really happy.”

On the dance floor, everything was 10 times hotter. Bodies meshed together effortlessly with limbs flying in every direction. Harry led Louis to the center directly underneath the disco ball. He turned around and immediately gripped Louis’ waist, pulling him into his body. Louis wrapped his hands around Harry’s neck, slipping his hands through his brown curls. Lust filled both eyes as their bodies pushed against each other to the beat of the music. Then, Louis untangled his fingers from Harry’s curls and turned himself around so his back was to Harry, grinding his ass against Harry’s crotch. It stunned Harry at first, but he quickly overcame it and continued to use his hands to help Louis move his hips. Harry’s face was in the dip of Louis’ neck, breathing in his sweaty, yet amazing scent. His lips were practically touching the line of his neck, so he decided to just do it. A shudder rippled through Louis as Harry moved his mouth over the boy’s neck, kissing up and down while occasionally licking the salty skin. Louis flattened himself against Harry, ass still moving backwards onto Harry’s very hard crotch. One of Louis’ hands came up and cupped Harry’s face and then continued up into his hair like before. Hands that once resided on Louis’ hips soon trailed down closer to the front of Louis’ pants, allowing a moan to spill from Louis’ mouth. It was the best thing Harry had ever heard. He reciprocated a moan into Louis’ neck as he kissed and licked more forcefully, almost giving him a subtle hickey. Just as the hickey was about to gain its bruising color, Louis was pulled from his grasp. Louis’ eyes shot open and in front of him stood Anastasia. 

“Surprise!” she yelped so loud that everyone probably heard her even over the blaring music. She jumped into his arms and hugged him with all her might. It took a while for Louis to hug back due to the amount of surprise that flooded his body. They pulled apart and she grinned a toothy smile.

“Aren’t you happy to see me?” she cried, arms wrapped around his waist. The motion infuriated Harry; that was _his_ spot.

“Yes!” Louis said, voice saturated with bewilderment along with eyes filled with shock. She obviously didn’t see them grinding on each other due to the faint lights and the amount of bodies that littered the floor.

Anastasia looked at Louis with eyes overflowing with excitement. She grabbed Louis’ wrist and led him out of the pit, leaving Harry standing alone.

Harry followed them out to the booth where Louis was introducing her to Niall and Lila.

“Nice to meet you!” yelled Niall over the music. He was polite, but he wasn’t the usual Niall. Perhaps it was the booze. And Lila was the exact same way. Anastasia hugged Tara and Liam; no introduction needed because they met her once when she visited. 

Tara barely flashed a smile, irritation surging through her face. Liam’s arm rested around her waist and massaged soothing circles with his thumb to keep her from tearing Anastasia’s head off.

“You’re all so sweet!” said Ana in a cheery tone.

Harry brushed past Louis to sit in the booth next to Tara. Louis shot him a sympathetic look as Tara wrapped her arm around his waist. Harry did nothing but pour himself another shot.

“Hi!” exclaimed Anastasia towards Harry. She extended her hand for him to shake. “I’m Anastasia, Louis’ girlfriend.”

Under the dim, dance floor lights, Harry couldn’t see anything about this girl. But at the table under the brighter lights, Harry was surprised at what was in front of him. Her long, dark brown hair was curled and fell past her shoulders, enunciating her large, brown eyes. She was a bit taller than Louis, or maybe it was just the black heels on her feet. But out of all her characteristics, the deep, protruding dimples stood out to Harry the most. She reminded Harry so much of himself.

Harry glanced at Louis before smiling and shaking her hand. “I’m Harry. Nice to meet you,” he said. Any person who knows Harry would immediately recognize the hostility in his voice, but strangers didn’t think twice about it, “I’m sure Louis is _ecstatic_ to have you here.”

She giggled and tightened her grasp around him. Louis stared at Harry with a blank expression, not even moving to touch her back.

“I sure hope so!”

Lila and Liam let out an uncomfortable laugh and they tried straying the conversation to something different, but the tension still lingered in the air.

“Anastasia,” Tara gritted out bitterly, “Can I talk to you really quick?”

Before she could respond, Tara slipped out of the booth and dragged her to the side.

“What are you doing here?”

“I wanted to surprise Louis!” 

“You said you would let me know before you came.”

“I did! But you told me not to come,” she pouted.

Tara wanted to slap the frown off her face.

“You should’ve listened to me,” snapped Tara. Unlike Lila, Tara wasn’t afraid to truly speak her mind.

“Why? What’s the problem, Tara?” Ana put her hands on her hips and gave a look of vexation.

“Nothing, whatever. Let’s go back.”

The two walked back to the group. Tara returned to her spot under Liam’s arm and Anastasia went back to wrapping her arm around Louis’ waist.

“Well,” Lila spoke as she stood up, “Harry, Niall is super drunk. Maybe you should take him home.”

Lila was the best person in the world. She always knew what to say and do; Harry didn’t know how he survived before without her. 

“Yeah, c’mon Niall,” Harry told Niall, helping him out of the booth, “Time to get you to sleep.”

It was probably the awkward air, but Niall was happy to go out with Harry, not giving him a tough time at all. Harry looped an arm around Niall’s shoulder as they said their goodbyes.

“Bye! Nice to meet you!” Anastasia cheered. Harry emitted a small smile and told her the same thing. Even though he definitely didn't like her, it wasn't in his nature to be rude. Louis squirmed from his girlfriend’s grasp to give Harry a hug goodbye, but he was already out the door with Niall by his side. 

The walk back to their flat was quick, only being 10 minutes away. Niall shoved himself through the door and kicked off his shoes. 

"Want....more shots," he stumbled into the kitchen, almost reaching the island with all the alcohol before Harry turned him to the direction of his bedroom.

"I think you've had enough, pal,” smiled Harry. He helped Niall out of his jeans and shirt before tucking him into bed. "I'll be right back. Stay here."

Harry soon returned with a large glass of water and three aspirins for when he wakes up.

"Goodnight, Niall."

"Ha-Harry, I'm sorry," slurred Niall. His words were almost incomprehensible. 

Harry's eyebrows furrowed in confusion and he sat on the edge of the bed.

"Sorry? Sorry for what?"

"Anastasia. She’s here and you don't like it."

Niall’s words surprised Harry; he didn’t know what to say. 

”I-I never said that. I'm happy she's here to make Louis..." his voice trailed off for a moment, "happy."

A foul taste accumulated itself in Harry's mouth after saying that. Drunk Niall scoffed and attempted to sit up before groaning and falling right back against the pillow. Harry handed him the glass of water and helped to lift his head as he drank the liquid slowly.

"You're...you're lying."

What was Harry supposed to say? If he denied it, Niall would just yell at him. And if he admitted it, there was a chance that Niall would remember it tomorrow. Harry stayed quiet.

"You loooovvee Louis!" cried Niall against his pillow, "You loooovvee him so much."

That was Harry's cue to leave. "Okay, Niall. Time to sleep," he patted Niall's duvet and stood up. Before he left the doorway, Niall muttered something else.

"He loves you too, Haz. You guys....so much loooovvee."

A deep fuchsia pooled in Harry's cheeks. He knew never to believe a drunk person because they are normally filled with shit but Niall tends to speak truth when he's intoxicated. 

"Loooovvee," Niall repeated, "Lila…Where's Lila? I miss her. I loooovvee h...her...." his voice was interrupted by a deep snore as he lulled to sleep. 

Harry tiptoed from the room and tapped the door shut. After making his way up to his room and changing out of his sweaty clothes, he finally lied against the clean sheets that felt cool underneath his burning body. At first he thought he had a fever—which would explain his trouble breathing—but then quickly remembered how Louis had the capability to set a fire to his lungs with just a look alone.

He dreamt of an angel. A beautiful, holy sun angel with the powers to send bolts of fiery adoration with the bat of an eye. 

Louis was definitely not from this universe.

 

The next morning, Harry was to meet up with Lila to help with her American history paper. At first, Harry wanted to cancel due to the icky feeling that the previous night brought him but he decided that being with a friend was the best solution.

The rich smell of coffee beans was enough to pull Harry back into reality. His eyes peered over the large menu that hung above the coffee station, mind already settling on his usual green tea but when it was time to order, he hastily changed it to a jasmine tea (all thanks to Louis), along with a caramel mocha for Lila since she was running late. After grabbing the drinks, he sat down at a table across from the large glass window that he usually sat near with Louis. He didn’t wait long until Lila rushed in through the door.

“Harry!” she cried, dropping her backpack to the floor—which was definitely not a backpack anymore considering it barely held any books due to the broken zipper—placing her laptop on the table, and taking the seat directly next to Harry, “I’m so sorry I’m late! I went running this morning and I completely lost track of time.”

“It’s fine, I’ve only been here for like 5 minutes. Also, who goes running after a night of partying?” 

She smiled and shrugged. He handed her the mocha and she nearly cried.

“You are so sweet,” she took a large gulp of the liquid, not even asking what it was, “Thank you!”

The pair worked on the essay for about an hour, or attempted to work because Lila kept interrupting their session to distract Harry.

“Okay, yeah, The Federalist Papers…” her voice trailed off, “Did you do something different to your hair? My, Harry, how voluminous it looks on this fine morning.”

Harry couldn’t help but laugh. “Lila, we’re never going to finish this. You’re worse than Niall, who has the attention span of a goldfish!”

She slumped back in her chair and pouted. “I hate history so much! I don’t give a shit about any of this. Maybe we should just call it a day?”

Before Harry could agree with her, a familiar voice entered the cafe. He didn’t want to turn his head toward the sound but instead, the voice came to him.

“Hi guys,” spoke Louis. 

He wore a dark green t-shirt along with black jeans that hugged his thighs tightly. In his arms, he held his philosophy textbook. His eyes looked a bit tired, but then Harry realized it was probably because of what hung on his arm.

“Hello!” she said in a chirpy voice. Anastasia’s brown hair was now straight and pulled into a pony tail. She wore a pink sun dress along with nude sandals. 

“Hey! What are you guys doing here?” asked Lila.

“I have philosophy homework so I decided to come here to work,” Louis stated before quickly adding, “Oh, and Ana wanted to come with me too.”

The second part of the statement sounded tasteless, even his eyes lost their life for a second.

“Mind if we sit with you guys?” asked Louis. “We could do our homework together too, Harry.”

Louis smiled down at Harry, who had not spoken since they walked up to their table. Louis definitely noticed this, for he was always the first to say hello to Louis.

“Uhh, actually,” stammered Harry as he rose from his chair, “I have to leave. I totally forgot that I have to go…” Harry picked his brain for a good excuse.

“pick up my goldfish’s medicine.”

_Harry, no._

They all shot Harry a peculiar look. He wanted to slap himself until his face melted off. If he was going to lie, he at least needed to make it believable. 

“Goldfish’s medicine?” inquired Anastasia slowly. She was looking at him like he was insane.

“I didn’t know you had a fish,” said Louis. He crossed his arms against his chest and gave Harry the look of: _What are you doing?_

“I just got him yesterday,” he said with as much confidence that could be used when telling the stupidest lie in the entire history of lies, “Poor thing was dying so I decided to save him.”

“And what’s this fish’s name, Harold?” Louis’ voice was snarky; he wasn’t fooled. 

Panic flooded Harry’s mind as he tried to think of a name. His eyes tumbled down to the floor where he first saw Lila’s red backpack with the broken zipper.

“Zippy,” he blurted. It was the lamest name in the world; he was ashamed to give his poor, imaginary fish that title.

“Zippy?” asked Lila, an amused look on her face. She was having the time of her life watching Harry make a fool out of himself.

“Zippy the goldfish?” it was supposed to be a question, but Louis’ tone caused it to be a statement; he didn’t believe anything that came out of his mouth.

“How sweet of you to adopt a sick goldfish!” exclaimed Anastasia, her hand over her heart in a sympathetic manner.

Harry wanted to laugh at her stupidity but he instead nodded his head. 

“Yes, thank you,” he gathered all his papers and shoved them into his bag, “I’d better go pick up the medicine before Zippy dies. Bye.”

He felt like a hot mess as he scrambled out the door, Louis’ squinted, bewildered eyes following him as he left. 

Outside, the New York City air felt brisk against his face. He released a long breath that was supposed to make him feel better but still left him feeling rotten. He hated trying to avoid Louis just because his girlfriend was here, despite the heartache she caused him. Not to forget the fact that he also lied to Louis, something he’s always despised doing.

Instead of walking home, he strolled to the nearest pet store.

“Hi,” he greeted the employee at the front desk, “can you please point me in the direction to your goldfish?”

 

…

 

By Monday morning, Louis felt nauseous as he strolled to his class. The sweet hum of birds whistled in his ear, along with his girlfriend’s sharp voice as she babbled on and on about some tedious topic. Her arm was tight around his waist and he couldn’t ignore the unpleasant tug in his chest each time her fingers grazed over his clothed side. Her touch had never been a grand problem before, but now, all his mind could think about was how Harry’s arm felt better. 

His fingers felt right. Everything about Harry felt _good_.

The constant movement of her fingers over his body begun to irritate him. Maybe if he imagined Harry instead, the feeling would fade. 

“Isn’t that funny?”

The question pulled Louis back to Anastasia. He didn’t even realize they were already at his class.

“Yeah, really funny.”

Her arm unraveled from his waist and instead she took both of his hands into hers. Their hands looked odd together. Louis liked having smaller hands compared to the person he was with but her hands were much tinier than his, and almost limp. How could hands be limp? It was so bizarre to Louis.

Harry’s hands weren’t limp. They were firm, yet soft. A bit sweaty, but Louis didn’t mind. And big enough to encompass Louis’ whole hand.

“Can’t you ditch today?” she pouted.

Louis fabricated a forced smile. “Sorry, Ana. This class is really important and I can’t miss a lecture,”

_Oh, and you’ve been on my ass for two days straight so I need to fucking breathe._

“Class is about to start, I’d better go.”

She swung their hands between them and sulked. “Okay, I’ll pick you up after class.”

“You don’t have to do-“

“Don’t be silly! Of course I’ll pick you up!”

He wanted to scream. But instead he nodded and watched her walk away.

The classroom was already full by the time Louis walked into class and down to his row. He was nervous to sit next to Harry; what if he didn’t want to talk to Louis? He was hoping that wasn’t the case—he really missed Harry.

Harry was doodling in his notebook when Louis sat down.

“Hi, Lou.”

It almost startled Louis, but he was so happy to hear his pet name. It almost made everything okay (even though he knew it wasn’t).

“Hi, Haz.”

“How are you?” 

“I’m good,” spoke Louis quietly, “How are you?”

Dark, profound circles ran under Harry’s eyes as if he hadn’t had a wink of sleep in a week. It worried Louis and he wanted to ask, but he didn’t want to invade. Harry hesitated to answer.

“I’m good.”

“Mmm,” hummed Louis, “And how’s your fish? What was his name…Zippy?” amusement lingered in his voice as he spoke, laughter threatening to spill from his lips.

Harry wanted to laugh as well but he kept his cool under his blisteringly tender smile. 

“Zippy is great, thanks for asking. I was almost late to give him the medicine but luckily, I made it in time.”

“You kind soul.”

“So,” Harry said, eyes lingering on the notebook, “Is Anastasia still here?”

Louis bit his lip and felt uneasy. The air between them was thick.

“Yeah. She’s staying for 3 weeks.”

Harry nodded his head, “Wow, 3 weeks. That’s a long time. Almost around the time when you’ll be leaving too.”

Neither spoke. Harry continued to doodle various pictures on the paper, elbow blocking the drawings from Louis’ sight. 

“What are you drawing?”

Harry moved his elbow from blocking Louis’ view, revealing the luscious flowers on long, thick vines.

“Jasmine flowers.”

Signs and signals have never been things to catch Louis’ attention. Not until Harry came back into his life when symbols begun to flash him everywhere he went. The flowers were one of those signals that because he’s never believed in such things, he wasn’t sure what to do with the repetitive signs. They appeared everywhere, reminding him always of Harry. He even saw a package of jasmine tea at Harry’s house! Surely Harry knew about the flowers as well and was trying to tell him something.

Louis stared with wide eyes at the twisting vines that were copious with delicate flowers. 

“They’re lovely,” he whispered, voice low and reticent. 

It was almost painful to tear away his eyes from the paper and instead up to Harry’s warm, green orbs that were slightly saturated with tears. Louis could feel his heart slowly shattering in his chest as he stared into gloomy, yet beautiful eyes. He wanted to do nothing but hug, and hold his boy in his arms.

The professor walked in with a booming greeting, causing the boys to jolt in their seats. Harry wiped his shirtsleeve against his eyes as he readied himself for note taking. 

Suddenly, Louis was filled with an old, yet familiar feeling that hasn’t been felt in over 11 years. It was the same feeling he would get when he would accidentally take a joke too far and make Harry cry. It wasn’t often, but he would always immediately apologize and do everything in his power to make it up to him. Hurting Harry was the secret 8th deadly sin, and it’s exactly what Louis was afraid of in the beginning. 

Throughout lecture, they made their usual lecture jokes as Professor Holguin spoke and taught. The only reason they were never called out was because Harry was at the top of the class. Things finally felt normal between them.

“Hey, want to go get dinner tonight? We could go to that sushi place that you love so much?” whispered Harry as the professor continued speaking.

Louis’ face lit up like the brightest star in the night. “Yeah! That sounds great.”

They shared a smile and listened to the rest of the lecture.

Class soon came to an end, and both boys walked out laughing at a stupid joke Harry said, but Louis laughed at all of Harry’s jokes as if he did stand up comedy on a daily basis. They were both laughing so hard that Louis bumped into someone outside the building.

“Oh!” cried Louis as he came down from his vehement fit of laughter, “Sorry, didn’t see you there-“ 

Of course, it was Anastasia.

“Hi, babe!”

She threw her hands over Louis in a grand hug as if she hadn’t seen him in years. Louis groaned in a mixture of surprise and pain due to her intense grip on his body.

“Harry! Hi, I didn’t see you there,” she said as she unravelled herself from Louis. 

“Hi, Anastasia.”

She gave him a bright smile before turning back to Louis. “You ready?”

Louis nodded and she tugged on his wrist to guide him away.

“Oh, wait!” Louis took his wrist back from her grasp, “Dinner tonight, right, Harry?”

Harry’s once sad eyes turned into christmas lights. “Yeah, we can meet there at 6 or 7.”

“Great and-“

“But I wanted to see a movie tonight!” wailed Anastasia childishly.

Both boys stared at the girl incredulously. 

“You guys get to see each other all the time and I never get to see you, Louis. And I want to see a movie!”

Before, if Harry were to go to jail, it was going to be because of jaywalking or something. But now, it was going to be for murder of an idiot.

“It’s fine, Lou,” said Harry. Louis’ head snapped to Harry, eyes begging him not to say anything more, “We can do dinner another night,” he granted a small smile.

“Great!” squealed Anastasia, “Bye, Harry!” she yelled and yanked her boyfriend away again.

Louis turned his head and watched Harry with somber eyes. He mouthed a small ‘I’m sorry,’ and Harry smiled sympathetically, because there wasn’t anything else he could do. Although, the time he did spend with Louis felt euphoric, like he snorted a line of Louis up his nose after a long respite. And the respite was about to be even longer now that she was here for 3 weeks. 

Neither one knew how they survived before without the other.

 

…

 

That evening when Niall got home after work, he noticed a certain surprise.

“Harry?” called Niall from the living room. He stood in front of the book shelf, eyes peering down confusedly on the solo goldfish that swam merrily in the bowl of water.

“Yeah?” chirped Harry as he trotted down the stairs to Niall.

“Why do we have a fish on the book shelf?”

“He was sick…” he muttered quietly, “so I bought him.”

Niall nodded his head and kept staring at the fish. “What’s his name?”

“Zippy.”

His eyes tore away from the fish and they stared at Harry with perplexity. He sighed and returned his eyes back to the bowl.

“I guess Zippy is a cute name.”


End file.
